PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^' 


BV  4225  .A6  1886 


SM/. 


Anecdotes  illustrative  of 
Old  Testament  texts 


/ 

v 

(ITfie  dfTInifal  llil)ran>. 


ANECDOTES 


ILLUSTRATIVE   OF 


OLD    TESTAMENT    TEXTS 


Qi\]c  Clerical  Cibrarg. 


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AN  ECDOTES 


ILLUSTRATIVE    OF 


OLD   TESTAMENT   TEXTS, 


gtfe  fork: 
A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    &    SON, 

714,  BROADWAY. 


MDCCCLXXXVl. 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 


Great  pains  have  been  taken  in  the  compilation 
of  this  volume  to  go  to  original  sources,  and  very 
many  volumes  have  been  examined  with  the  view 
of  making  as  fresh  a  collection  as  possible.  But 
it  should  be  distinctly  understood  that  no  originality 
is  claimed  for  the  form  of  the  anecdotes.  In  most 
cases  this  has  been  taken  as  it  was  found. 


I.  The    Power   and    Comfort    of    God.      Gen.  i.  i. 

"  ///  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth" 

When  Mr.  Simeon,  of  Cambridge,  was  on  his  dying  bed, 
his  biographer  relates  that,  "  after  a  short  pause,  he  looked 
round  with  one  of  his  bright  smiles,  and  asked,  '  What  do 
you  think  especially  gives  me  comfort  at  this  time  }  The 
creation  !  Did  Jehovah  create  the  world  or  did  I .''  I  think 
He  did  ;  now  if  He  made  the  world,  He  can  sufficiently 
take  care  of  ME.' " 

II.  Sin  Ready  to  Enter.     Gen.  iv.  7.     ^' Sin  lieth  at  the 

door." 

A  YOUNG  friend  was  one  day  calling  upon  an  old  Christian 
woman,  nearly  eighty  years  of  age,  just  waiting  for  the 
summons.  Said  this  friend,  "  Oh,  granny,  I  wish  I  was  as 
sure  of  heaven,  and  as  near  it,  as  you  are  I  "  With  a  look 
of  unspeakable  emotion,  the  old  woman  answered,  *'  And 
do  you  really  think  the  devil  cannot  find  his  way  up  an 
old  woman's  garret-stair.-'  Oh,  if  He  hadn't  said  'None 
shall  pluck  them  out  of  My  hand,'  I  would  have  been  away 
wandering  long  ago  !  " 

III.  Sin  Crouching  at  the  Door.     Gen.  iv.  7.     "Sin 

liclh  at  the  door" 

A  TRAVELLER  who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  some 
robbers,  was  murdered  by  them.  In  his  last  moments, 
seeing  some  ravens  flying  over  his  head,  he  exclaimed  to 
them,  "  I  call  upon  you  to  avenge  my  death."  Three  days 
after,  the  robbers,  going  into  the  neighbouring  town,  saw 
some  ravens  on  the  roof  of  the  inn  where  they  were  carous- 
ing.    One  of  them  said,  sneeringly  :  "  I  suppose  those  are 

]3 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


the  ravens  come  to  avenge  the  death  of  the  traveller  we 
despatched  the  other  day."  The  servant  of  the  inn,  over- 
hearing these  words,  ran  and  repeated  them  to  the  magis- 
trate, who  had  the  robbers  taken  up,  and,  on  inquiry  being 
made,  they  were  convicted  of  the  murder  and  hanged. 

IV.  Undone.      Gen.  iv.   lo.      '■'And  He  said.    What  hast 

thou  done  ?  " 

The  Rev.  Rowland  Hill  preaching  on  one  occasion  from 
this  text,  at  Cowes,  began  his  sermon  as  follows  : — "  In 
my  w^ay  to  your  island,  I  visited  the  county  jail  at  Win- 
chester, and  there  I  saw  many  who  were  accused  of  heavy 
crimes,  but  who  seemed  careless  and  indifferent,  and  to 
have  but  little  sense  of  their  awful  situation.  But  one 
young  man  attracted  my  attention  :  he  kept  separate  from 
the  rest,  and  seemed  very  much  troubled.  I  went  up  to 
him  and  said,  'And  what  have  you  done,  young  man?' 
*  Sir,'  said  he,  deeply  affected,  '  I  have  done  that  which  I 
cannot  undo,  and  which  has  undone  me.'  This,  my  dear 
friends,"  said  the  minister,  "  is  the  situation  of  every  one 
of  you.  You  have  each  of  you  done  that  which  has  undone 
you,  and  which  you  cannot  undo." 

V.  My  Ministry.     Gen.  v.  24.     ^^  Aiid  Enoch  walked  with 

God :  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him." 

On  the  22nd  of  February,  1880,  Dr.  Raleigh  preached  for 
the  last  time.  His  text  was,  "And  Enoch  walked  with 
God  :  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him."  Had  he 
known  that  he  would  never  preach  again,  he  could  not 
have  chosen  a  more  appropriate  text,  or  have  spoken  with 
more  impressiveness  and  pathos.  One  of  the  members  of 
the  congregation  said,  on  returning  home,  "  I  have  heard 
to-day  what  I  never  expect  to  hear  again  in  this  world." 
Dr.  Raleigh  was  compelled  to  rest ;  weeks  passed  away, 
but  there  was  no  amendment  in  his  health,  and  at  length 
he  had  to  be  told  that  there  was  no  hope  of  his  recovery. 
When  he  received  the  intelligence  he  said,  "  Then  my 
ministry  is  ended."  There  was  a  pause,  and  then  he 
added,  "  My  ministr\' ! — it  is  dearer  than  my  life."  On 
the  Tuesday  before  his  death,  he  was  visited  by  the  Rev. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


Josliua  Harrison,  to  whom  he  freely  expressed  his  confi- 
dence in  the  glorious  work  of  the  Saviour,  and  said  :  "In 
any  case  I  may  well  be  content  and  thankful.  I  am  not 
an  old  man,  yet  I  have  lived  long  and  worked  hard.  I 
have  had,  on  the  whole,  a  most  happy,  and  I  think  I  may 
say  successful,  ministry.  God  has  blessed  my  work,  and 
has  always  given  me  true  friends.  If  I  have  finished  my 
work,  I  am  ready  to  go.  Indeed,  I  should  have  no  regrets, 
but  for  these  dear  ones "  (his  wife  and  children).  When 
reminded  of  the  prayers  which  were  being  offered  on  his 
behalf,  he  replied,  "  Yes,  my  people's  prayers  make  me 
sometimes  think  I  may  have  a  little  more  work  to  do,  but 
if  not,  I  shall  calmly  march  up  to  the  Gates."  Still  trust- 
ing in  Christ,  he  went  "through  the  gates,"  April,  1880. 
In  the  presence  of  a  sorrowing  multitude,  his  coffin  was 
lowered  into  a  grave  in  Abney  Park  Cemetery. 

VI.     An  Ideal  Christian  Pastor.    Gen.  v.  24.    ^^ And 
Enoch  walked  with  GodJ^ 

Oberlin's  motto  may  be  summed  up  in  three  words, 
"  Walk  before  God."  We  have  in  him  the  ideal  of  a 
Christian  and  of  a  pastor.  He  had  holy,  vigilant,  tender 
love  for  souls.  When,  of  an  evening,  some  of  his  flock 
were  passing  in  front  of  his  house  at  Waldersbach,  and  saw 
a  light  burning  at  a  certain  window  which  they  well  knew, 
"Hush!"  one  said  to  the  others,  "our  pastor  is  watching 
for  us  "  ;  and  so,  indeed,  this  valiant  soldier  of  the  cross 
did  watch  and  wrestle  for  his  people.  He  prayed  by  name 
for  each  of  these  souls  whom  he  presented  before  God,  as 
of  old  they  brought  the  sick  to  the  Saviour  for  healing. 
In  common  with  all  generous  spirits,  Oberlin  had  hailed 
with  transport  the  clear,  fair  morning  of  revolution  ; 
but  when  its  aspect  changed — when  the  day  darkened  in 
crimes  and  bloodshed — when  the  Gospel  was  proscribed  in 
France  turned  pagan,  and  the  Age  of  Reason  substituted 
in  its  place — do  you  suppose  Oberlin  was  dumb,  and  spoke 
no  more  to  his  flock  of  the  Gospel  and  of  Christ  'i  As- 
suredly no.  This  good  shepherd,  under  the  needful  disguise 
of  president  of  a  club,  contrived  to  retain  the  right  of  still 
feeding  his  sheep  with  the  Divine  word.  For  example, 
when  the  Convention  despatched  to  all  the  "  club  presi~ 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


dents"  the  common  motto  or  text  on  which  they  were  to 
speak  on  each  decade,  the  subject  on  one  occasion  was 
this: — "Ai^ainst  tyrants."  Oberlin  was  in  no  wise  em- 
barrassed -  thereby — not  he  !  "  Tyrants,"  said  he  to  his 
parishioners,  "  all  good  republicans  ought  to  hate  ;  yes, 
and  to  make  war  on  them  without  truce  or  intermission. 
But  who  are  these  tyrants.?  The  King  of  Prussia  or  the 
Emperor  1  No,  the  real  tyrants  are  the  vices,  the  passions, 
the  evil  lusts  which  war  against  the  soul.  Behold  in  them 
our  worst  enemies,  with  whom  peace  there  must  never  be." 
And  so,  by  a  happy  turn  like  this,  the  good  Oberlin  would 
soon  find  his  way  back  to  the  Gospel  he  loved,  and  keep 
his  people  alive  with  the  bread  of  life,  of  which  there  was 
a  sore  famine  in  other  places. 

VII.  Gathering  Flowers  to  Compose  Him  in 
the  Hour  of  Death.  Gen.  v.  24.  " Ajid  Enoch 
walked  with  God:  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him." 

We  know  it  to  be  a  Scripture  fact,  that  men  have  "  walked 
with  God,"  in  closest  intimacy,  and  that  God  hath  held 
converse  with  them,  "even  as  a  man  converseth  with  his 
friend."  Such  was  the  case  with  Enoch,  Abraham,  Moses, 
and  all  that  luminous  cloud  of  witnesses  so  brightly  and 
clearly  revealed  in  the  Bible. 

The  Church  of  God,  even  down  to  our  own  time,  fur- 
nishes innumerable  witnesses  to  this  truth,  which  we  will 
establish  by  the  mouth  of  two  of  them. 

John  Holland  was  an  old  Puritan  minister,  who  died 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  Little  is  known  of  him, 
except  what  relates  to  his  deathbed.  Perceiving  that  he 
was  near  his  end,  he  said  :  "  Come,  oh  come  ;  death 
approaches.  Let  us  gather  some  flowers  to  comfort  this 
hour."  He  requested  that  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans 
might  be  read  to  him.  But  at  every  verse  he  stopped  the 
reading,  while  he  expounded  it  to  the  comfort  of  his  soul, 
and  to  the  joy  and  wonder  of  his  friends.  Having  thus 
continued  his  meditations  above  two  hours,  he  suddenly 
cried  out,  "  Oh,  stay  your  reading.  What  brightness  is 
this  I  see?  Have  you  lighted  any  candles.?"  They  told 
him,  "  No  ;  it  is  the  sunshine."  "  Sunshine  .?  "  said  he  ; 
nay,  my  "  Saviour's  shine !    Now,  farewell  world — welcome, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


licavcn.  The  Day-star  from  on  high  hath  visited  my 
heart.  Oil,  speak  when  I  am  gone,  and  preach  it  at  my 
funeral,  God  dealetJi  familiarly  zvith  man!'  In  such  trans- 
ports his  soul  soared  toward  heaven.  His  last  words,  after 
repeating  the  declaration  that  "  God  doth  and  will  deal 
familiarly  with  man,"  were  these:  "And  now,  thou  fiery 
chariot,  that  earnest  down  to  fetch  u[)  Elijah,  carry  me  to 
my  hap[)y  home.  And  all  ye  blessed  angels,  who  attended 
the  soul  of  Lazarus  to  bring  it  to  heaven,  bear  me,  oh 
bear  me  to  the  bo.som  of  my  best  beloved,  Amen  ;  even  so 
come.  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  1 " 

Our  other  present  witness  is  Gilbert  Tennent,  who  was 
a  main  instrument,  with  Whitefield  and  Edwards,  of  the 
great  revival  in  New  England,  one  hundred  years  ago.  In 
one  of  his  letters  to  his  brother,  the  holy  William  lennent, 
he  says,  "  Brother,  shall  I  tell  you  an  astonishing  instance 
of  the  glorious  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ .-'  It  is 
this,  that  one  of  the  meanest  of  His  servants  has  had 
His  presence  every  day,  in  some  degree,  for  above  eleven 
weeks.  Nor  is  the  great,  good  Master  yet  gone.  Oh,  brother, 
it  is  heaven  upon  earth  to  live  near  to  God  !  Verily  our 
comfort  does  not  depend  so  much  upon  our  outward  situa- 
tion as  is  generally  supposed.  No,  a  Saviour's  love  is  all 
in  all.  Oh,  this  will  make  any  situation  sweet,  and  turn 
the  thickest  darkness  into  day." 

VIII.      Quenching    the    Spirit.     Gen.   vi.    3.      '^ My 
Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with  man" 

A  PREACHER  says  "  It  is  long  since  I  was  a  collegian, 
either  as  a  senior  here,  or  previously  as  a  member  of  the 
lower  classes  elsewhere.  I  still  remember  vividly  three 
young  men  who  went  about  swearing  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  they  considered  the  unpardonable  sin.  They  were 
already  hardened  and  reckless.  One  of  them,  who  became 
a  brilliant  physician,  died  in  middle  age,  a  suicide  ;  another 
of  them,  still  earlier,  a  drunkard  ;  the  other  yet  lives,  a 
physician,  but  with  not  a  sign  of  religious  thought  or 
feeling.  This  reminiscence  has  led  me  to  the  subject  of 
quenching  not  the  Spirit,  as  one  adapted  to  young  men 
just  laying  the  foundations  of  life. 

"In  the  class  of  1840,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  were 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


two  ministers'  sons,  of  fine  minds,  but  neither  of  them 
Christians.  During  revival  services  near  by  this  edifice,  at 
about  this  season  of  the  year,  one  of  them  was  converted  ; 
but  the  other  held  aloof.  Under  an  urgent  appeal  from 
his  friend  he  had,  however,  been  touched.  He  did  not 
quench  the  Spirit.  He  became,  finally,  a  minister,  and 
settled  at  New  Rochelle.  In  the  same  class  was  a  third 
member,  an  avowed  infidel.  After  graduation  he  banded 
with  others  even  worse  than  himself  to  go  by  sea  to  New 
Orleans,  and  thence  overland  into  Texas,  there  to  form  a 
predatory  band  for  the  commission  of  all  kinds  of  iniquity. 
They  did  not  all  reach  New  Orleans.  A  part  went  on, 
but  were  attacked  by  disease.  This  student  buried  the 
last  one,  and  was  left  alone.  From  Galveston  he  worked 
his  way  home,  sick,  diseased,  and  ragged,  to  his  mother's 
door.  He  got  a  httle  school  at  New  Rochelle,  but  was  a 
gambler  and  misanthrope,  resisting  long  all  his  classmate's 
advances  and  appeals.  Touched  at  length  by  them,  he 
did  not  quench  the  Spirit.  He  began  a  higher,  a  Christian 
Hfe  ;  and  these  three  students  of  this  college  within  these 
walls  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  are  now  all  ministers  of  Christ, 
living  at  the  West. 

IX.  Gen.  vi.  5.      "  Every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his 

heart  was  only  evil  coiitinitally." 

Emmanuel  refuses  even  to  allow  a  letter  from  Diabolus 
to  enter  the  town  of  Mansoul.  A  preacher  has  well  said  : 
"  There  must  be  no  correspondence  whatever.  The  devil's 
letters  are  evil  hints  and  suggestions,  and  if  you  entertain 
them,  then  you  are  opening  up  a  correspondence  with  him. 
Whenever  you  get  a  letter  addressed  in  his  hand-writing, 
with  the  post-mark  of  hell  on  it,  destroy  it  at  once." 
Luther  said,  "  I  cannot  help  unclean  birds  flying  over  my 
head,  but  1  can  keep  them  from  building  and  breeding  in 
my  hair."  So  we  cannot  help  evil  thoughts  crossing  our 
minds,  but  we  can  keep  them  from  dwelling  there. 

X.  The    Shut    Door.       Gen.   vii.  16.       '' A7id  the  Lord 

shut  him  in." 

In  the  life  of  the  late  Hugh  Millar,  we  find  the  following 
passage  from  Mr,  Stewart,  of  Cromarty,  whom  Millar  con- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


sidcrcd  one  of  the  very  best  and  ablest  of  Scotland's 
niini>tcrs :  "  Noah  did  not  close  the  door.  There  are 
words  that  God  keeps  for  Himself.  The  burden  is  too 
heavy  for  the  back  of  man.  To  shut  that  door  on  a  world 
about  to  perish  would  have  been  too  great  a  responsibility 
for  a  son  of  Adam.  Another  moment,  and  another,  and 
another  might  have  been  granted  by  Noah,  and  the  door 
might  never  have  been  shut,  and  the  ship  that  carried  the 
hfe  of  the  world  might  have  been  swamped.  And  so  it  is 
in  the  ark  of  salvation.  It  is  not  the  Church  nor  the  min- 
ister that  shuts  or  opens  the  door.  These  do  God's  bidding ; 
they  preach  righteousness  ;  they  offer  salvation,  and  it  is 
God  that  shuts  and  opens  the  door.  Oh,  what  a  sigh  and 
shudder  will  pass  through  the  listening  universe  when  God 
will  shut  the  door  of  the  heavenly  ark  upon  the  lost!" 

XI.  A  Quaint  Epitaph.     Gen.   viii.   9.     ^^ Btit  the  dove 
found  no  rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she  returned  unto  him 

into  the  ark.'" 

The  following  quaint  epitaph  has  reference  to  a  little  girl 
buried  at  the  age  of  five  months:  "  But  the  dove  found  no 
rest  for  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  she  returned  unto  him  into 
the  ark." 

XII.  Noah's  Prayer.    Gen.   viii,  20.     "  And  Noah  built 

an  altar  unto  the  Lord." 

Tradition  has  preserved  the  prayer  of  Noah,  and  the 
learned  John  Gregory  gives  it  to  us  as  he  gathered  it  from 
the  Arabic  and  Syriac.  And  assuredly  the  prayer  is  a 
beautiful  one,  a  prayer  which  might  not  only  have  been 
well  oftered  up  in  that  floating  church,  but  which  may  be 
even  a  pattern  for  many  prayers.  The  following  is  John 
Gregory's  translation  from  the  floating  words  of  the  tradi- 
tional original  :  "  O  Lord,  excellent  art  Thou  in  Thy  truth, 
and  there  is  nothing  great  in  comparison  of  Thee.  Look 
upon  us  with  the  eye  of  mercy  and  compassion  :  deliver  us 
from  this  deluge  of  waters  and  set  our  feet  in  a  large  room. 
By  the  sorrows  of  Adam  Thy  first-made  man,  by  the  blood 
of  Abel  Thy  holy  one,  by  the  righteousness  of  Seth,  in 
whom  Thou  art  well  pleased,  number  us  not  among  those 
who  have  transgressed  Thy  statutes,  but  take  us  unto  Thy 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


merciful  care,  for  Thou  art  our  deliverer,  and  Thine  is  the 
praise  from  all  the  works  of  Thy  hands  for  evermore.  And 
the  sons  of  Noah  said,  Amen,  Lord." 

XIII.  The    Covenant  Sign.      Gen.   ix.  13.      '■' I  do  set 

My  bow  ui  the  child,  atid  it  shall  be  for  a  token  of  a  covena?tt 
between  Me  and  the  earth." 

The  native  account  of  the  last  martyrdom  in  Madagascar 
concludes  in  ttvese  touching  words: — "Tlien  they  prayed, 
'  O  Lord,  receive  our  spirits,  for  Thy  love  to  tis  hath  caused 
this  to  come  to  us ;  and  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge.' 
Thus  prayed  they  as  long  as  they  had  any  life,  and  then 
they  died — softly,  gently  ;  and  there  zvas  at  the  time  a 
rainboiv  in  the  heavens  which  seemed  to  touch  the  place  of  the 
btirning." 

XIV.  One   Language.     Gen.  xi.  i.     *' The  whole  earth 

was  of  one  language  and  of  one  speech." 

A  Hindu  and  a  New  Zealander  met  upon  the  deck  of 
a  missionary  ship.  They  had  been  converted  from  their 
heathenism,  and  were  brothers  in  Christ ;  but  they  could 
not  speak  to  each  other.  They  pointed  to  their  Bibles, 
shook  hands,  and  smiled  in  each  other's  faces  ;  but  that 
was  all.  At  last  a  happy  thought  occurred  to  the  Hindu. 
With  sudden  joy,  he  exclaimed:  "Halleluia!"  The  New 
Zealander,  in  delight,  cried  out  "  Amen ! "  These  two 
words,  not  found  in  their  own  heathen  tongues,  were  to 
them  the  beginning  of  "  one  language  and  one  speech." 

XV.  The  Confusion  of  Tongues.  Gen.  xi.  9. 
"  Therefore  is  the  natne  of  it  called  Babel,  because  the  Lord 
did  there  confoimd  the  language  of  all  the  earth." 

The  late  Bishop  Selwyn  devoted  a  great  part  of  his  time 
to  visiting  the  Melanesian  Isles,  and  he  thus  writes  home 
about  the  difficulty  of  languages  :  "  Nothing  but  a  special 
interposition  of  the  Divine  Power  could  have  produced 
such  a  confusion  of  tongues  as  we  find  here.  In  islands 
not  larger  than  the  Isle  of  Wight,  we  find  dialects  so 
distinct  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  various  districts  hold 
no  communication  one  with  another." 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


XVI.  True   Service   must  have  Soul  in  it.     Gen. 

xii.  5.  "  And  Ahraiii  took  Sarai  his  unfe,  and  Lot  his  brothet'S 
son,  and  all  their  substance  that  they  had  gathered,  and  the 
souls  that  they  had  gotten  in  Haran." 

A  MINISTER  makes  the  following  remarks  in  his  sermon  : 
— The  want  of  this  age — of  all  ages  is — sou/.  Quaint  old 
Matthew  Henry  points  out  that  Abraham's  slaves  which 
he  had  gotten  in  Haran  are  called  sottls.  In  these  times 
servants  are  called  /lands.  A  world  of  difference.  Hands 
— four  fingers  and  a  thumb  to  get  as  much  out  of  as  one 
can,  and  to  put  as  little  into,  from  the  master's  standpoint. 
And  from  the  servants — to  pick  up  as  much  as  they  can 
and  to  give  as  little  back  again.  When  master  and  man 
can  find  in  each  other's  relationship  a  soul — a  living,  earnest, 
brotherly  soul,  then  only  are  the  work  and  wages  alike 
right.  In  least  and  commonest  works  we  want  not  liands 
only  but  souls.  If  I  hire  a  man  to  do  my  garden  and  I  find 
him  scarcely  pla}'ing  at  the  work,  for  men  put  their  souls 
into  their  play,  but  '  dawdling  '  only,  tickling  the  earth 
with  a  rake  as  if  he  expected  it  to  laugh  into  flowers,  I 
would  sooner  fling  him  his  half-crown,  and  do  the  work 
right  earnestly  myself.  So  do  we  value  soul,  we  who  see 
but  the  outside  of  men.  Think  then  of  Him  Whose  eyes 
do  look  us  through — tJie  Father  of  spirits,  Whose  contact 
is  even  with  the  inner  man,  the  soul.  If  that  sleeps,  how 
poor  in  His  sight,  how  vain  and  mocking,  is  any  service 
that  we  pretend  to  render  Him.  Here  all  is  worse  than 
nothing  if  there  be  not  reality,  heart,  earnestness." 

XVII.  Magnanimity.  Gen.  xiii.  9.  '■'■  Jf  thou  wilt  take 
the  left  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  right ;  or  if  thou  depart  to 
the  right  hand,  then  I  will  go  to  the  left." 

An  instance  of  the  practical  effectiveness  of  Mr.  Sherman's 
preaching  is  narrated  thus.  In  one  of  his  Monday  evening 
lectures  to  teachers,  the  subject  was  the  parting  of  Abraham 
and  Lot :  in  the  course  of  which  he  spoke  of  the  mag- 
nanimity of  Abraham,  and,  as  a  contrast  to  it,  said  that  he 
had  just  visited  a  family  belonging  to  the  congregation  that 
was  rent  by  discord  about  the  ownership  of  an  old  bedstead. 
It  happened  that  amongst  his  hearers  was  a  man  who  had 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


not  been  in  Surrey  Chapel  for  years.  He  was  greatly 
amused  by  the  illustration.  As  he  left  the  chapel,  he  called 
on  an  old  friend,  and  told  him  that  he  was  at  the  very  time 
arranging  the  distribution  of  some  property  left  by  a  re- 
lative, amongst  which  there  was  an  old  bedstead,  which  had 
been  matter  of  dispute :  but  the  effect  of  the  address  upon 
him  was  such  that  the  bedstead  difficulty  was  soon  amicably 
settled. 

XVIII.  Unconscious  Surveillance.  Gen.  xvi.  13. 
^^  A?id  she  called  the  name  of  the  Lord  that  spake  unto  her, 
Thou  God  seest  vie." 

Some  years  since  a  trio  of  gentlemen,  members  of  a  large 
mercantile  firm,  came  into  the  office  of  the  writer,  and, 
under  injunctions  of  profound  secrecy,  desired  the  favour 
of  using  the  window  for  a  few  days.  The  privilege  was 
readily  granted,  and  one  of  their  number  was  at  once  in- 
stalled behind  a  curtain,  where,  with  a  powerful  glass,  he 
could  rigidly  scrutinize  every  movement  of  a  certain  clerk  in 
a  large  building  across  the  way.  The  young  man,  all  un- 
conscious of  the  vigilant  eye  constantly  upon  him,  was 
absorbed  in  his  duties,  making  entries  and  receiving  money  ; 
and,  whatever  consciousness  of  innocence  or  guilt  was 
carried  about  with  him,  the  suspicion  of  a  rigid  watch  upon 
his  actions — every  movement  closely  scanned  and  weighed 
by  his  employers — doubtless  had  never  entered  his  mind. 
The  surveillance  was  continued  nearly  a  week  when  it  was 
abruptly  terminated,  and  the  result,  whether  in  discovery  of 
wrong  or  establishing  innocence,  I  never  learned. 

The  incident  made  a  profound  impression  upon  me, 
suesestinsf,  with  thrilling  distinctness,  the  solemn  truth 
which  men  are  so  prone  to  forget,  "  Thou  God  seest  me, 
and  enabling  me  as  never  before  to  realize  how  open  before 
Him  are  the  hearts  and  ways  of  men,  their  desires,  volitions, 
actions  ;  and  that  at  last  He  shall  bring  every  work  into 
judgment,  whether  it  be  good  or  whether  it  be  evil, 

XIX.  God     Makes    no    Mistakes.     Gen.    xviii.    25. 
'■'Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?  " 

There  is  here  a  young  man  of  about  thirty,  of  fine  talents 
and  capabilities   for  active  life,  but  for  years  a   cripple, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  II 

paralytic,  and  helpless.  He  would  starve,  if  left  alone.  A 
friend  was  couimiserating  his  condition,  when,  with  deep 
earnestness,  he  exclaimed,  as  he  slowly  raised  his  withered 
hand,  "  God  makis  no  mistakes.'^  How  noble  the  sentiment ! 
'■  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?  "  This  is 
piety.     Only  a  heart  divinely  taught  could  thus  speak. 

XX.     Protection  from   evil.     Gen.   xix.  26.     '' But  his 

tvife  looked  back  from  heJiind  him,  and  she  became  a  pillar  of 
salty 

An  evil  is  never  a  thing  to  play  with.  When  God  promises 
His  protection  against  evil,  it  is  understood  that  we,  on 
our  part,  shall  keep  aloof  from  it  as  much  as  possible  ; 
that  we  shall  not,  at  any  rate,  ^o  recklessly  or  carelessly 
into  it. 

I  can  remember  an  event  in  my  early  life.  I  had  come 
home  from  school  for  a  holiday.  My  father  had  just  bought 
a  fine  large  dog.  Of  course  I  was  rather  afraid  of  the 
powerful  animal,  and  as  we  were  going  out  to  walk,  I  was 
rather  uneasy  when  I  saw  that  my  father  was  to  take  the 
dog  along  with  us.  But  he  bade  me  relinquish  all  fear,  as 
he  would  keep  the  animal  under  his  own  command,  and  he 
assured  me  that  the  dog  would  do  me  no  harm  if  I  let  him 
alone.  I  found  that  my  father  spoke  the  truth,  and  as  I 
walked  on  cheerfully  by  his  side  I  soon  lost  all  dread.  But 
seeing  that  the  animal  was  peaceful,  I  became  bold  and 
forward,  and  began  to  tease  him  when  my  father's  back 
was  turned.  The  consequence  was,  that  soon  the  blood 
streamed  down  my  hand  and  my  cries  filled  the  air. 
"You  promised  me  that  the  dog  should  not  hurt  me,"  I 
said  sobbing.  "  Yes,"  was  the  answer,  "  but  you  did  not 
tell  me  that  you  were  going  to  torment  him.  It  was 
understood  \\\dX  yoii  were  to  let  him  alone." 

I  always  look  at  this  scar  of  mine  when  I  think  of  God's 
promises  to  His  children  with  reference  to  their  protection 
against  evil.  It  is  understood  that  we  shall  keep  aloof. 
You  know  the  sad  story  of  Lot's  wife.  God  had  promised 
her  a  safe  escape  from  the  evils  of  Sodom.  But  in  her 
recklessness  she  chose  to  turn  her  face  towards  the  burning 
furnace  and  the  fiery  shower.  Of  course,  no  protection 
was  promised   against  such   a  foolhardiness.     When    God 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


promises  that  He  will  carry  our  cares  for  us,  it  is  under- 
stood that  we  sliall  nut  unnecessarily  and  neglectfully  try 
to  increase  the  burden.  If  so,  we  may  expect  our  Father 
to  allow  the  dog  to  bite  us,  that  we  may  learn  to  behave 
wisely. 

XXI.  A  Motto.     Gen.  xxii.  14.     *■' The  Lord  will  provide" 

The  celebrated  Richard  Boyle,  Earl  of  Cork,  who  rose  from 
a  humble  station  in  life  to  the  highest  rank,  and  passed 
through  strange  and  trying  vicissitudes,  used  these  words 
as  his  motto,  and  ordered  them  to  be  engraved  on  his  tomb  : 
"  God's  providence  is  my  inheritance." 

XXII.  Three   Bad  Bargains.      Gen.  xxv.  34.      ''Thus 

Esau  despised  his  birthright.'" 

A  Sunday  school  teacher  remarked  that  he  who  buys  the 
truth  makes  a  good  bargain,  I  inquired  if  any  scholar 
recollected  an  instance  in  Scripture  of  a  bad  bargain.  "  I 
do,"  replied  a  boy,  "  Esau  sold  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of 
pottage."  A  second  said,  "Judas  made  a  bad  bargain 
when  he  sold  his  Lord  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver."  A  third 
boy  observed,  "  Our  Lord  tells  us  that  he  makes  a  bad 
bargain  who  to  gain  the  whole  world  loses  his  own  soul." 

XXIII.  Beautiful   Doors.     Gen.  xxviii.  17.      '' The  gate 

of  /leave ?i." 

Michael  Angelo  Buonarrotti  said  of  the  doors  of  the 
Baptistery  at  Florence,  executed  by  Lorenzo  Ghiberti, 
when  asked  what  he  thought  of  them,  "  They  are  so  beauti- 
ful that  they  might  stand  at  the  gates  of  Paradise." 

XXIV.  Give  all  you  Can.  Gen.  xxviii.  22.  "■  And  of 
all  that  Thou  shalt  give  7ne,  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto 
Thee." 

The  late  Bishop  Selvvyn  used  often  to  quote  that  motto 
of  John  Wesley's,  "Save  all  you  can  and  give  all  you  save," 
and  he  did  not  think  that  charity  began  until  after  a  tithe 
had  been  paid  to  God.  "  Whatever  your  income,"  he  wrote 
ouce  to  his  son,  "  remember  that  only  nine-tenths  of  it  are 
'  ■  your  disposal." 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  13 

XXV.  ATenthofAll.  Gen.  xxviii.  22.  And  of  all  that 
Thou  shall  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the  tenth  unto  2hee^^ 

"  Take  it  quick,  quick,"  said  a  merchant,  who  had  promised, 
like  Jacob,  to  return  to  the  Lord  a  tenth  of  all  that  he 
should  give  him,  and  found  that  it  amounted  to  so  large 
a  sum,  that  he  said,  "  I  cannot  give  so  much,"  and  set  aside 
a  smaller  amount.  Then  his  conscience  smote  him,  and, 
coming  to  himself,  he  said,  "  What  !  can  I  be  so  mean  ? 
Because  God  has  thus  blessed  me  that  I  have  this  large 
profit,  shall  I  now  rod  Him  of  his  portion  ?"  And  fearing 
his  own  selfish  nature,  he  made  haste  to  place  it  beyond 
his  reach  in  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  coming  almost  breath- 
less to  the  pastor's  house,  and  holding  the  money  in  his 
outstretched  hand. 

XXVI.  Helping  on  the  Work  of  God.  Gen.  xxviii. 
22.  '■'■  Of  all  that  thou  shall  give  me  I  will  surely  give  the 
tenth  ufito  I'hee.^' 

A  WIDOW  found  pardon  and  peace  in  her  Saviour  in  her 
sixty-ninth  year.  Her  gratitude  and  love  overflowed  and 
often  refreshed  the  hearts  of  Christians  of  long  experience. 
The  house  of  God  became  very  dear  to  her,  and  she  was 
often  seen  to  drop  a  gift  in  the  church  door  box  though 
her  income  was  only  2s.  6d.  per  week.  A  fall  in  her 
seventy-second  year  prevented  her  ever  coming  out  again. 
A  little  boy  being  seen  to  drop   something  into  the  box, 

was  asked   what  it  was.     He  said,   "  It  is    Mrs.  W 's 

penny."  He  was  told  to  take  it  back  to  her,  and  to  say 
that  her  good  intention  was  prized,  but  that  her  friends 
could  not  let  her  thus  reduce  her  small  means,  especially 
as  she  could  not  come  out  to  worship.  She  replied,  "  Boy, 
why  did  you  let  them  see  you  give  it  ^  Take  it  again  and 
put  it  in  when  no  one  sees  you."  Then  weeping  she  said, 
"  What  !  and  am  I  not  to  be  allowed  to  help  in  the  work  of 
God  any  more  because  I  can't  get  out?" 

XXVII.  A  Christian  Boyhood.    Gen.  xxxix.  2.  ''And 

the  Lord  was  ivith  Joseph." 

Dr.  Harold  Schofield,  the  talented  missionary  to  China, 
lived  a  life  of  singular  beauty,  purity,  and  devotion.     He 


14  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

had  that  best  of  all  earthly  blessings — a  good  and  godly 
mother.  The  gracious  training  of  his  childish  days  bore 
fruit  early.  "  When  nine  years  old  he  was  truly  converted 
to  God."  The  circumstances  of  his  conversion  are  singularly 
beautiful,  and  should  encourage  Christian  parents  not  only 
to  pray  for,  but  to  expect  from,  their  children  an  early 
decision  for  Christ  An  elder  brother,  who  was  away  at 
school,  had  just  found  the  Saviour,  and  had  written  to  tell 
his  brother  of  his  new-found  joy.  After  reading  the  letter, 
Harold  was  deeply  affected,  and  a  servant  noticing  his 
agitation  went  to  his  mother  to  tell  her  that  "  Harold  was 
walking  up  and  down  the  dining-room  in  great  distress  of 
mind."  "  I  sent  for  him,"  his  mother  says,  '•  and  he  handed 
me  a  letter  from  his  brother,  and  stood  by  me  in  tears  to 
think  that  he  was  not  saved  like  him.  I  spoke  simply  of 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  ray  of 
joy  that  beamed  through  his  tearful  eyes  and  lighted  up 
his  whole  face  as  he  owned  that  Christ  had  saved  him  too." 
Who  can  wonder  that  the  spiritual  life  which  had  so 
gracious  a  beginning,  had  so  fair  a  continuance  and  so 
glorious  a  close  !  Happy  the  child  who  at  nine  years  of 
age  is  led  to  Jesus  by  a  brother's  letter  and  a  mother's 
voice  ! 

The  gladness  of  that  day,  the  settled  conviction  that  he 
was  Christ's  and  Christ  his,  seems  never  to  have  been  lost, 
hardly  dimmed  in  after  years. 

At  school  he  soon  won  the  highest  place,  and  began  his 
brilliant  series  of  prize  winnings.  Here,  too,  he  took  his 
stand  as  a  thorough-going  Christian,  "  His  piety  was  as 
well-known  to  all  the  boys  as  his  diligence  ;"  and  in  after 
years  old  schoolfellows  testified  to  the  blessing  received 
through  his  earnest  religious  talk  in  the  play-ground.  He 
was,  however,  always  ready  for  out-door  exercises  and 
holiday  excursions,  cycling  and  boating  expeditions  in 
which  a  touch  of  danger  only  added  to  the  interest  of  the 
enterprise. 

At  the  University,  and  at  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital, 
he  never  hesitated  to  declare  himself  Christ's  servant  ;  and 
it  was  soon  recognised  by  the  other  students  that  Scho- 
field's  presence  must  put  an  end  to  everything  wrong  in 
word  or  act 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  15 

XXVIII.  Praying  First.     Gen.  xli.  9.     ^' I  remember  my 

faults  tliis  day." 

Two  Christian  men  "  fell  out."  One  heard  that  the  other 
was  talking  against  hiiji,  and  he  went  to  him  and  said. 
"  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  tell  me  my  faults  to  my 
face,  that  I  may  profit  by  your  Christian  candour  and  try 
to  get  rid  of  them  ? "  "  Yes,  sir,"  replied  the  other  ;  "  I  will 
do  it."  They  went  aside,  and  the  former  said  :  "  Before 
you  commence  telling  what  you  think  wrong  in  me,  will 
you  please  bow  down  with  me  and  let  us  pray  over  it,  that 
my  eyes  may  be  opened  to  see  my  faults  as  you  will  tell 
them  .■*  You  lead  in  the  prayer."  It  was  done,  and  when 
the  prayer  was  over  the  man  who  had  sought  the  interview 
said,  "  Now  proceed  with  what  you  have  to  complain  of  in 
me."  But  the  other  replied,  "  After  praying  over  it,  it  looks 
so  little  that  it  is  not  worth  talking  about.  The  truth  is,  I 
feel  now  that  in  going  around  talking  against  you  I  have 
been  serving  the  devil  myself,  and  have  need  that  you  pray 
for  me  and  forgive  me  the  wrong  I  have  done  you." 

Here  and  there  in  almost  every  community  is  a  man  or 
woman  who  might  profit  by  this  incident. 

XXIX.  Troubles.     Gen.  xli.  52.     "  The  land  of  my  afflic- 

tion." 

"When  in  Amsterdam,  Holland,  last  summer,"  says  a 
traveller,  "  I  was  much  interested  in  a  visit  we  made  to  a 
place  then  famous  for  polishing  diamonds.  We  saw  the 
men  engaged  in  the  work.  When  a  diamond  is  found  it  is 
rough  and  dark  like  a  common  pebble.  It  takes  a  long 
time  to  polish  it,  and  it  is  very  hard  work.  It  is  held  by 
means  of  a  piece  of  metal  close  to  the  surface  of  a  large 
wheel  which  is  kept  going  round.  Fine  diamond  dust  is 
put  on  this  wheel,  nothing  else  being  hard  enough  to  polish 
the  diamond.  And  this  work  is  kept  on  for  months  and 
sometimes  for  several  years  before  it  is  finished.  And  if  a 
diamond  is  intended  for  a  king  then  the  greater  trouble 
and  time  are  spent  upon  it." 

Jesus  calls  His  people  His  jewels.  To  fit  them  for 
beautifying  His  crown,  they  must  be  polished  like  dia- 
monds, and  He  makes  use  of  the  troubles  He  sends  to 
polish  His  jewels. 


l6  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

XXX.  A  Son's   Affection.     Gfn.  xlv.  3.     '' And  Joseph 
said  unto  his  bretJiren,  I  am  Joseph  ;  doth  my  father  yet  live  ?  " 

The  HuCTuenots  were  persecuted  beyond  measure  in 
southern  France,  and  were  not  allowed  to  meet  together 
for  worship. 

On  New  Year's  Day,  1756,  the  Church  at  Nimes  held 
a  service  in  the  gorge  in  the  desert.  The  people  had 
scarcely  assembled  when  they  were  surprised  by  the 
soldiers.  They  flew  up  the  rocks  like  a  scattered  flock  of 
goats.  Among  the  more  agile  was  a  young  man  named 
Jules  Fabre.  Suddenly  he  remembered  his  father,  a  feeble 
old  man  of  seventy.  He  was  sure  that  he  could  not  have 
escaped.  Returning,  he  found  his  fears  realized  ;  his  father 
and  another  man  had  been  captured.  He  ran  up  to  the 
soldiers  and  insisted  on  their  accepting  him  in  place  of  his 
father.  The  old  man  besought  him  to  go.  The  altercation 
had  gone  on  some  time,  when  the  young  man  seized  his 
aged  parent  round  the  waist  and  carried  him  to  a  stone, 
where  he  gently  laid  him  down,  more  dead  than  alive. 
Jules  Fabre  then  gave  himself  up  as  a  prisoner,  was  con- 
victed of  being  present  at  an  illegal  assembly,  and  sent  to 
the  galleys,  where  he  might  have  remained  for  life,  had 
not  the  peculiarity  of  the  case  touched  the  hearts  of  some 
powerful  people,  and  he  was  released  at  the  end  of  six 
years. 

XXXI.  The  Homesick  Mount.     Gen.  xlvii.  9.     "  The 

days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage.^' 

We  are  told  that  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Interlaken  there 
is  a  prominent  point,  though  not  of  great  height,  called  the 
"  Heiimvcli  Fhihl'  which  means  the  Hoviesick  Mount.  It 
is  so  called  because  it  is  generally  the  last  spot  which  the 
traveller  visits  before  leaving  that  part  of  Switzerland,  and 
at  a  time  when  his  thoughts  are  turned  homeward.  It 
commands  a  view  of  the  whole  valley  of  Interlaken,  with 
its  cultivated  fields  and  pastures  and  picturesque  villages 
and  lakes  in  the  cup  of  mountain  walls,  and  beyond  the 
Jungfrau  and  other  mountains,  which  never  doff  their  caps 
of  eternal  snow.  It  is  beautiful  to  look  upon,  but  the 
heart  of  the  tourist  is  not  there.     He  is  thinking  of  friends 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES,  17 

and  loved  ones,  and  his  own  country.  It  is  the  Homesick 
Mount.  And  so  they  to  whom  faith  makes  the  invisible 
most  real  may  have  their  moments  of  uplifting,  standing 
on  some  "  Ileimwch  Fluh,"  some  Mount  of  Homesickness, 
and,  while  they  acknowledge  all  the  beauty,  all  the  glory, 
all  the  gladness  of  the  world,  their  hearts  are  not  here  ; 
this  siglit  does  not  enthral  them,  for  their  faces  are  turned 
toward  home.  They  dwell  in  the  Land  of  Promise  as  in 
a  strange  country. 

XXXTI.  Eternity,  and  Where  it  is  to  be 
Spent.  Gen.  xlvii.  29.  ^^  A?id  the  time  drew  nigh  that 
Israel  must  die :  and  he  called  his  S07i  Joseph.''' 

A  MINISTER  was  dying,  and  he  called  his  son,  who  was  a 
thoughtless  lad,  to  his  bedside.  "  Tom,"  he  said,  "  will  you 
promise  me  one  thing  before  I  die  }  I  only  ask  that,  when 
I  am.  gone,  you  will  go  every  evening  alone  for  fifteen 
minutes  and  say,  'What  is  eternity.''  and  where  shall  I 
spend  it  .■''  "  The  promise  was  given,  and  faithfully  kept. 
At  first  the  lad  thought  little  of  the  words  ;  but  he  went 
on  doing  as  he  had  promised,  until  at  last  he  was  not  able 
to  face  the  awful  question  any  longer,  and  gave  himself  up 
to  Jesus. 

XXXIII.  The  Great  Pilot  is  on  Board.  Gen. 
xlviii.  21.  '■'■And  Israel  said  ujito  Joseph,  Behold,  Idle:  but 
God  shall  be  with  you" 

John  Owen,  two  days  before  he  died,  thus  wrote  in  a 
letter  to  a  friend  :  "  I  am  leaving  the  ship  of  the  Church  in 
a  storm  ;  but  whilst  the  great  Pilot  is  in  it,  the  loss  of  a 
poor  under-rower  will  be  inconsiderable." 

XXXIV.  The    Persecution    of   the    Huguenots. 

ExoD.  ii.  23.  "  The  children  of  Israel  sighed  by  reasofi  of  the 
bondage,  and  they  cried,  and  their  cry  came  tip  unto  God  by 
reason  of  the  bondage." 

Many  otherwise  estimable  people  approved  the  Huguenot 
persecution  at  the  time.  Thus  Madame  de  Sevigne,  one 
of  the  most  amiable  women  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
a  most  tender  mother,  an  example  of  virtue,  and  noted  for 

C 


l8  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

extraordinary  good  sense,  absolutely  approved  Louis  XIV.'s 
attempt  to  exterminate  Protestantism.  In  a  letter  to  the 
Comte  de  Bussy  she  writes :  "  You  have  doubtless  seen  the 
edict  by  which  the  king  revokes  that  of  Nantes.  Nothing 
can  be  more  admirable  than  its  contents,  and  no  king  has 
done,  or  ever  will  do,  a  more  honourable  act."  To  which 
the  count  replies :  "  I  admire  the  conduct  of  the  king  in 
destroying  the  Huguenots  ;  the  wars  which  have  been 
waged  against  them  before,  and  the  St.  Bartholomews, 
have  multiplied  and  given  vigour  to  this  sect.  His  majesty 
has  gradually  undermined  it,  and  the  edict  which  he  has 
just  published,  supported  by  dragoons  and  Bourdaloue,  has 
been  its  coup  de  grace  '  (1685). 

To  the  elegent,  refined  gentlefolk  of  the  court  of  Louis 
XIV.,  these  Huguenots,  who  dared  to  claim  the  right  to 
worship  God  according  to  their  consciences,  were  human 
vermin,  to  be  exterminated  by  fire  and  sword.  Madame 
de  Sevigne  commiserates  her  nephew,  the  Marquis  de 
Trousse,  who  was  engaged  in  the  "  dreadfully  fatiguing" 
work  of  shooting  down  "  miserable  Huguenots."  He  beat 
the  country  with  armed  bands,  just  as  modern  sportsmen 
beat  the  woods  for  game  ;  wherever  a  group  of  Protestants 
were  found  praying  or  singing  hymns,  the  soldiers  fired  on 
them  or  cut  them  down. 

XXXV.  Egyptian  Animal  Worship.  Exod.  viii.  26. 
'■'■  And  Moses  said,  It  is  not  meet  so  to  do  ;  for  %ve  shall  sacrifice 
the  abomination  of  the  Egyptians  to  the  Lord  our  God :  lo, 
shall  zve  sacrifice  the  ahoniiiiation  of  the  Egyptians  before  their 
eyes,  and  will  they  not  stone  us  ?  " 

The  veneration  with  which  the  Egyptians  regarded  such 
animals  as  were  the  objects  of  their  religious  worship  might 
be  illustrated  by  a  variety  of  historical  facts.  On  one 
occasion  a  Persian  commander  saved  his  army  by  placing 
craftily,  in  the  foremost  lines  of  his  troops,  some  dogs,  cats, 
and  other  sacred  animals,  at  which  the  foiled  Egyptians 
did  not  dare  to  aim  an  offensive  weapon.  A  Roman  in 
Egypt  once  killed  a  cat  inadvertently,  upon  which  the 
people  met  together,  beset  his  house,  and  killed  the  man, 
in  spite  of  the  king  and  princes,  who  endeavoured  to 
prevent  it. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  19 

XXXVI.  The  Passover.      Kxon.    xii.    13.       ''And  the 
blood  shall  be  to  you  for  a  token  upon  the  houses  where  ye  are." 

Epiphanius  tells  US  that  the  Egyptians  used,  at  this  time 
of  the  year,  to  mark  their  cattle,  trees,  and  one  another 
with  red  ochre,  which  they  fancied  to  be  a  preservative 
from  death  ;  it  probably  took  its  rise  from  hence. 

XXXVII.  A     Remedy     against    Despondence. 

ExoD.  xiv.  15.      "  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  that  they 
go  forjvard." 

"  Let  me  mention,"  says  Sir  W.  R.  Hamilton  in  one  of  his 
letters,  "what  I  think  an  important  secret  of  experience; 
namely,  that  blessed  a  thing  as  meditation  is,  it  is  action, 
rather  than  meditation,  which  is  the  appointed  remedy,  the 
Divine  specific,  against  despondence ;  and  that  present 
duties  which  may  at  first  seem  irksome,  are  part  of  the 
medicine  wherewith  God  healeth  the  sickness  of  those  that 
are  broken  in  heart." 

XXXVIII.  Not    slavishly  Afraid    of  his    Sins. 

ExoD.  XX.  2.     "lam  the  Lord  thy  God!' 

When  Ebenezer  Erskine  lay  on  his  death-bed,  one  of  his 
elders  said  to  him,  "  Sir,  you  have  given  us  many  good 
advices,  may  I  ask  what  you  are  now  doing  with  your  own 
soul  ?"  "I  am  just  doing  with  it,"  he  replied,  "  what  I  did 
forty  years  ago  ;  I  am  resting  on  that  word,  '  I  am  the 
Lord  thy  God.' "  Another  friend  put  the  question,  "  Sir, 
are  you  not  afraid  of  your  sins  ?  "  "  Indeed,  no,"  was  his 
answer;  "ever  since  I  knew  Christ  I  have  never  thought 
highly  of  my  frames  and  duties,  nor  am  I  slavishly  afraid 
of  my  sins."  At  another  time  he  said,  "  I  know  that  when 
my  soul  forsakes  this  tabernacle  of  clay  it  will  fly  as 
naturally  to  my  Saviour's  bosom  as  the  bird  to  its  beloved 
nest." 

XXXIX.  The    Heathen's    Reply   to    the  Jesuit. 

ExoD.  XX.  4.     "  Thou  shall  fiot  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image." 

When  the  Jesuit  missionaries  first  arrived  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  they  used    many  arguments  with  the  natives   to 


20  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

show  that  their  instructions  and  those  of  the  Protestant 
missionaries  were  ahke.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions 
that  an  old  man,  who  made  no  pretensions  to  reh^^ion, 
replied  that  the  missionaries  had  taught  him  about  God. 
"  Oh,  yes,"  replied  the  priests,  "  Mr.  Thurston  taught  about 
God,  and  that  was  right ;  you  heard  him,  and  now  I  wish 
you  to  hear  me."  The  old  man  gravely  answered,  "  But 
the  Bible  says  I  cannot  serve  two  masters."  He  further 
objected  to  their  images,  when  the  priests  said:  "  Oh!  we  do 
not  call  this  God,  and  we  do  not  pray  to  it.  It  is  only 
a  representation,  shadow,  of  God."  The  old  man  replied: 
"  Let  me  see  it.  Tliat  cannot  be  any  representation  of 
God.  It  is  made  of  brass.  If  tJiere  be  any  shadoiv  or  repj'e- 
setitation  of  God,  it  must  be  in  the  heart,  not  in  an  image." 

XL.      Look  to  Your  Pockets.      Exod.  xx.   7.     "  T/iou 
shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain." 

Howard  the  philanthropist  was  standing  in  a  crowd  by 
the  door  of  a  post  office,  when  a  man  uttered  a  volley  of 
oaths.  "  Look  to  your  pockets  !  "  cried  Howard,  buttoning 
up  his  own  tightly.  "  Always  take  care  of  your  pockets 
when  you  find  yourself  amongst  swearers.  He  who  will 
take  God's  name  in  vain  will  think  little  of  taking  your 
purse,  or  doing  anything  else  that  is  evil." 

XLI.  Swearing.  Exod.  xx.  7.  '^  Thou  shalt  jiot  take  the 
name  of  the  Lo?-d  thy  God  in  vain  ;  for  the  Lord  will  not  hold 
him  guiltless  that  taketh  His  name  in  vai?i." 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  when  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was 
in  building.  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the  architect,  caused 
a  printed  notice  to  be  affixed  to  the  scaffolding,  threaten- 
ing with  instant  dismissal  any  workman  guilty  of  swearing 
within  those  sacred  precincts. 

XLII.     Who   Taught  you  to  Swear?     Exod.  xx.  7. 

"  2'hoii  shalt  not  take  the  71a me  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain." 

An  aged  minister  was  once  riding  on  th.e  box-seat  of 
a  coach  ;  the  driver,  a  fine-looking  young  man,  frequently 
swore  at  his  horses.      For  some  time   the   minister   was 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  21 

silent ;  at  length  he  asked  in  a  kind  voice  :  "  Will  you  tell 
me,  my  friend,  who  taught  you  to  swear  ?  Was  it  your 
mother  ? " 

A  tender  point  was  touched.  "My  mother?  No,  sir. 
Why,  my  mother  is  a  praying  woman  I  It  would  break 
her  heart  if  she  heard  me  swearing,"  he  replied. 

In  loving  words  the  aged  Christian  pleaded  with  the 
driver  to  honour,  not  only  his  mother's  teachings,  but  also 
the  commands  of  his  mother's  God. 

"  I  thank  you,  sir,"  said  the  young  lad,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  the  journey  not  another  oath  was  heard. 

XLIII.    The  Profanation  of  the   Sabbath.     Exod. 

XX.  8.     "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  to  keep  it  holy" 

Blackstone  declares  somewhere  that  "a  corruption  of 
morals  usually  follows  a  profanation  of  the  Sabbath  "  ;  and 
La  Place  said  just  before  his  death,  "  I  have  lived  long 
enough  to  know  what  at  one  time  I  did  not  believe,  that 
no  society  can  be  upheld  without  the  sentiment  of  religion." 
The  testimonies  of  other  such  men  might  be  quoted  in 
great  numbers  that,  alike  on  moral,  social,  economical,  and 
physical  grounds,  the  disregard  of  the  Lord's  day  is  a 
dangerous  evil  both  to  the  individual  and  the  communit3^ 

XLIV.    The  Noblest   Work  of  God.     Exod.  xx.  12. 
"  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  7nothe?:" 

A  LITTLE  boy  hearing  a  party  of  gentlemen  applauding 
the  sentiment  "an  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of 
God,"  boldly  said,  "  No  "  ;  and  being  asked,  "  What  do  you 
think  is  the  noblest  work  of  God  .-"' said,  "  ]\Iy  mother." 
That  boy  made  a  good  man.     Who  can  doubt  it  ? 

XLV.     An  Emaciated  Body.     Exod.  xx.   13.     ''Thou 
shalt  not  ki/l." 

It  is  told  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  that,  an  hour  or  two 
before  his  death,  gazing  d(n\ii  on  his  poor,  emaciated  body, 
he  exclaimed  regretfully,  "'  I  fear  I  have  ill-treated  my 
brother,  the  ass  !  " 


22  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

XLVI.      Cursing.      Exod.  xxi.    17.      ''■lie  that  ciirseth  his 
father,  or  his  mother,  shall  surely  he  put  to  death.'' 

"  Curses,  like  cliickens,  always  come  home  to  roost."  Such 
is  the  proverb,  and  it  is  a  very  true  saying.  The  evil 
wishes  and  threats  which  are  spoken  against  another  return 
on  the  swearer's  own  head.  When  an  Arab  is  kicked  by  his 
camel,  or  when  the  beast  refuses  to  go  on,  he  solemnly 
curses  the  camel,  at  the  same  time  throwing  a  handful  of 
sand  into  the  air,  and  most  of  that  sand  comes  back  into 
the  Arab's  eyes.     So  it  is  with  curses. 

XLVII.  A  Gift  which  Blindeth  the  Wise.  Exod. 
xxiii.  8.  "  Ami  thou  shall  take  Jio  gift :  for  the  gift  blindeth 
the  wise,  and  perverteth  the  words  of  the  righteous'^ 

It  is  recorded  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale  that  upon  his  circuit  as 
a  judge  he  refused  to  try  the  cause  of  a  gentleman  who 
had  sent  him  the  customary  present  of  venison,  until  he 
had  paid  for  it  ;  for  he  well  understood  the  spirit  of  the 
excellent  law  in  Exodus  xxiii.  8. 

XLVIII.  The  Plan  of  Strasburg  Cathedral. 
Exod.  xxv.  9.  "  According  to  all  that  I  show  thee,  after  the 
paiter7i  of  the  tabertiacle,  and  the  pattern  of  all  the  instruments 
thereof  even  so  shall  ye  make  it." 

There  is  a  beautiful  story  told  of  the  plan  by  which 
Strasburg  Cathedral  was  made.  The  architect,  Erwin  von 
Steinbach,  who  was  given  the  commission  to  build  it,  was 
greatly  troubled  lest  he  should  not  get  his  plan  sufficiently 
noble.  He  had  a  daughter  named  Sabine,  who  was  skilful 
in  drawing,  and  one  night  after  they  had  wept  together 
over  the  plans,  she  said  to  her  father,  "  Don't  despair,  God 
will  help  us."  After  she  fell  asleep  she  dreamed  that  a 
beautiful  angel  came,  and,  when  she  had  told  her  story,  said, 
"  You  shall  make  the  plan  for  the  minster."  The  angel 
and  Sabine  then  set  to  work,  and  soon  the  plan  was  done. 
When  she  awoke  she  uttered  a  loud  scream,  for  there  was 
a  paper  before  her  covered  with  wonderful  drawing.  Her 
father  exclaimed  :  "  Child,  it  was  no  dream.  The  angel 
really  visited  you,  bringing  the  inspiration  from  heaven  to 
help  us."  He  built  the  cathedral  after  the  plan,  and  it  was 
so  beautiful  that  the  people  really  believed  the  story. 


OLD    TES7AMKNT  ANECDOTES.  23 

XLIX.  Burning  with  Pure  Oil.  Kxod.  xxvii.  20. 
"  A?iJ  tlioii  sha'tt  comiiiaiid  f/ic  children  of  Israel,  that  fliey 
I'li/ig  thee  pure  oil  oliTe  beaten  for  the  light,  to  cause  the  lamp 
to  hum  always." 

It  is  related  in  the  biography  of  one  who  lived  to  become 
a  devoted  Christian  man,  that  while  he  was  yet  a  little  boy, 
the  passage  read  from  the  Bible  in  the  family  on  a  certain 
occasion  was  Exodus  xxvii.  20,  describing  the  oil  used  in 
the  vessels  of  the  tabernacle.  The  meaning  and  appli- 
cation of  the  verse  was  explained  by  other  passages  from 
the  New  Testament.  This  boy  was  then  but  five  years  old, 
and  it  was  not  supposed  that  he  could  understand  or  feel 
the  slightest  interest  in  a  subject  considered  far  beyond  his 
age.  The  older  children  left  the  room  after  family  worship, 
but  the  little  boy  was  detained,  as  usual,  to  be  taught  some 
simple  verses  of  the  Bible  by  his  mother,  and  to  pray  with 
her.  He  kneeled  down  at  length  to  pray,  and  in  the 
midst  of  his  prayer,  he  paused,  and  exclaimed  earnestly, 
"  O  my  God,  make  me  to  burn  this  day  witli///rt'  oil  I  " 

The  morning  lesson  had  not  been  lost  upon  him  ;  he 
had  understood  its  import.  "  Most  evidently,"  says  his 
biographer,  "  was  this  prayer  heard  and  answered  through- 
out the  day  of  his  life." 

How  appropriate  is  this  petition  for  the  morning  offering 
of  every  Christian,  "  Make  me  to  burn  this  day  with  pure 
oil  "  !  If  He  who  hath  all  hearts  in  His  keeping  vouch- 
safe a  gracious  answer  to  that  prayer,  the  example  of  the 
disciple  must  be  one  that  will  glorify  the  name  of  Jesus. 
Such  a  man  will  walk  with  God.  No  unhallowed  fires 
will  be  lighted  in  his  bosom.  Neither  revenge  nor  hate 
can  burn  there.  The  peace  and  joy  of  the  believer  will 
fill  his  soul. 

L.  Talent  without  Sanctity.  Exod.  xxix.  44.  "7 
%i.iill  sanctify  also  both  Aarofi  and  his  sons,  to  minister  to 
Me  in  the  pries fs  office." 

William  Grimshaw,  of  Haworth,  administered  a  severe 
reproof  to  a  lady  with  whom  one  day  he  was  conversing. 
She  had  expressed  her  admiration  of  a  certain  minister 
who  was  more  gifted  in  talent  than  in  grace.     '*  Madam," 


24  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

said  Grimsliaw,  "  I  am  glad  you  never  saw  the  devil." 
When  asked  why  he  made  this  remark,  he  said  :  "  Because 
he  has  greater  talents  than  all  the  ministers  in  the  world. 
I  am  fearful  if  you  were  to  see  him  you  would  fall  in  love 
with  him,  as  you  seem  to  have  so  high  a  regard  for  talent 
withaut  sanctity.  Pray  do  not  be  led  away  with  the  sound 
of  talents.  Let  the  ministry  under  which  Providence  has 
called  you  never  be  deserted  under  the  influence  of  novelty. 
There  dwell,  and  pray  that  it  may  prove  to  you  increasingly 
edifying,  consolatory,  and  instructive." 

LI.     Sabbath  Desecration.     Exod.  xxxi.   13.     "  Verily 

My  sabbaths  ye  shall  keep." 

Mr.  Grimshaw's  ministry  at  Haworth  was  one  of  ceaseless 
energy,  labour,  and  prayer. 

On  entering  upon  the  charge  there,  he  found  little 
attention  paid  to  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day.  The 
church  was  situated  at  the  extremity  of  the  parish,  and  it 
was  thought  the  people  from  the  remoter  districts  would 
not  come  so  great  a  distance  to  worship,  unless  they  had 
the  further  inducement  of  being  able  to  purchase  such 
stores  for  their  families  as  were  not  to  be  procured  nearer 
their  own  dwellings.  Sabbath  had  become  a  busy  market- 
ing day.  To  check  this  desecration,  he  adopted  the  most 
vigorous  means.  It  was  the  custom  in  that  locality  for  the 
churchwardens  to  leave  their  pew  in  the  course  of  the 
morning  service,  and  visit  the  public-houses,  and  the  usual 
places  of  resort  for  the  village  idlers,  to  ascertain  whether 
idlers  might  be  there  lurking.  Not  content  with  requiring 
these  officers  to  do  their  duty,  the  incumbent  was  accus- 
tomed to  leave  the  church  himself  when  the  psalm  before 
the  sermon  was  sung,  and  if  any  was  found  wandering 
in  the  streets,  or  lounging  in  the  churchyard,  he  was 
driven  before  him  into  the  house  of  God.  It  has  been 
said  that  in  this  service  the  horse-whip  was  used,  and  that 
on  some  occasions  he  told  the  clerk  to  give  out  the  119th 
psalm,  that  he  might  have  the  longer  time  in  which  to 
prosecute  his  search.  i)Ut  this  is  probably  a  myth  or 
exaggeration.  John  Newton  relates,  that  as  a  friend  of 
his  was  passing  a  public-house  in  Haworth  on  the  Lord's 
day,   his    attention    was   attracted    towards  a  number   of 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  25 

persons  wlio  wcic  iiialciiif^  their  escape  from  it,  some  by- 
jumping  out  of  the  lower  windows,  and  others  by  climbing 
over  a  wall.  At  first  he  supposed  from  the  hurry  of  their 
flight  that  the  house  must  be  on  fire  ;  but  on  inquiring  the 
reason  of  the  sudden  rush,  he  found  that  it  all  arose  from 
their  having  discovered  the  near  approach  of  the  parson. 
At  another  time,  a  man  was  passing  the  village  on  his  way 
to  call  the  doctor,  when  his  horse  lost  a  shoe.  On  apply- 
ing to  the  blacksmith  to  have  his  loss  repaired,  the  reply- 
was,  that  unless  the  minister  granted  leave  it  could  not  be 
done.  Grimshaw,  learning  that  the  case  required  haste, 
consented  that  the  horse  should  be  shod. 

LII.  Moses'  Argument.  Exod.  xxxii.  12.  "  Where- 
fore should  the  Egyptians  speak  and  sa}\  For  miscJiief  did  He 
bring  than  out,  to  slay  them  iti  the  mountains,  and  to  consume 
them  from  the  face  of  the  earth  ?  Turn  from  Thy  fierce  wrath^ 
and  1  epent  of  this  evil  against  Thy  people." 

The  pious  Mr.  Flavel,  on  the  occasion  of  his  escape  to 
London  from  the  persecution  which  was  raging  against  the 
Nonconformists  during  his  settlement  at  Dartmouth,  is 
said  to  have  made  use  of  a  similar  argument  to  this  of 
Moses.  Being  overtaken  on  his  voyage  by  a  violent 
storm,  in  which  he  and  his  companions  all  expected  to  be 
drowned,  Mr.  Flavel  called  the  ship's  company  together  in 
the  cabin  to  invoke  God's  mercy  and  deliverance.  Among 
other  arguments  he  made  use  of  this,  that  if  he  and  his 
company  perished  in  that  storm  the  name  of  God  would 
be  blasphemed  ;  the  enemies  of  religion  would  say,  that, 
though  he  escaped  their  hands  on  shore,  yet  Divine 
vengeance  had  overtaken  him  at  sea.  No  sooner  was  his 
prayer  ended  than  a  person  came  from  the  deck  crying  : 
"  Deliverance  !  God  is  the  hearer  of  prayer  I  In  a  moment 
the  wind  is  come  fair  west."  And  so  sailing  before  it,  they 
were  brought  safely  to  London. 

LIII.     Truthfulness.     Exod.  xxxii.  24.     *^ So  they  gave  it 
me:  then  I  cast  it  into  the  f  re,  and  there  came  out  this  calf" 

Henry  Venn  Ellioi-,  the  pious  Brighton  minister, 
writes  thus  in  late  life:  "If  there  is  one  point  more  than 
another  in  morality  concerning  which  I  have  been  especially 


26  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

watchful  in  my  own  words,  and  earnest  in  teachinf^  my 
children,  it  has  been  strict  truth,  even  to  the  banishment 
of  ordinary  exaggerations."  If  a  child  had  made  some 
trifling  mistake,  and  said,  "  I  am  so  very  sorry,"  "  Keep 
your  sorrow,  my  child,"  he  would  say,  "  for  a  greater 
occasion."  He  used  to  refer  to  Adam's  self-justification, 
"The  woman  gave  unto  me";  to  Aaron's,  "There  came 
out  this  calf";  to  Saul's,  "  The  people  took  of  the  spoil  "; 
as  compared  with  David's  earnest,  ingenuous  "  1  have 
sinned  against  the  Lord." 

LIV.  Christ  our  Rest-Stone.  Exod.  xxxiii.  14. 
"  And  He  said,  My  jjftsencc  shall  go  tvith  thee,  and  1  will  give 
thee  rest.'" 

In  India,  where  burdens  are  carried  on  men's  heads  and 
backs,  it  is  customary  to  provide  resting-places  for  them 
along  the  road.  Stones  are  set  up  along  the  hot,  dusty 
roads,  just  the  right  height  for  a  man  to  rest  his  burden 
upon  until  he  is  refreshed  and  able  to  go  on  his  way. 

"  Ah,  sahib,"  said  a  native  Christian  to  an  English 
gentleman,  "  Christ  is  my  rest-stone,  Christ  is  all  my 
hope." 

LV.     Leprosy.     Lev.  xiv,  i,  2.     ^'  And  the  Lord  spake  unto 
Moses,  saying,  7 his  shall  be  the  law  of  the  leper." 

The  crusaders  were  the  means  of  introducing  the  leprosy 
of  the  East  into  all  the  countries  bordering  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  and  a  feeling  of  pity,  and  even  of  reverence, 
for  these  sufferers  was  widely  diffused  through  Europe  at 
that  time.  The  churchmen  of  the  times  encouraged  this 
feeling,  and  taught  that  Christ  Himself  had  regarded  the 
lepers  with  special  tenderness,  and  quoted  from  the  fifty- 
third  of  Isaiah  a  prophecy,  in  which,  as  they  maintained, 
the  Messiah  was  foretold  under  the  image  of  a  leper. 
Francis  of  Assisi  had  faith  to  see  and  charity  to  love  even 
in  the  leprous  the  imperishable  traces  of  the  Divine  image. 
He  became  an  inmate  of  the  lepers'  hospital  at  Assisi,  and 
with  his  own  hands  washed  and  dressed  the  poor  sufferers, 
and  once  kissed  a  leper,  who,  we  are  told,  instantly  became 
whole.  Even  they  who  reject  the  miracle  will  revere  the 
lovinukindness. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  27 

LVI.  Transferring  of  Sins.  Lev.  xvi.  21.  ^'' And 
Aaron  shall  lay  both  his  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  live  goat, 
and  confess  over  him  all  the  iniquities  of  the  childreji  of  Israel, 
and  all  their  transgressions  in  all  their  sins,  putting  them  upon 
the  head  of  the  goat." 

Charles  Simeon,  of  Cambridge,  thus  speaks  of  his  attain- 
ing peace  in  believing: 

"In  passion  week,"  he  tells,  "as  I  was  reading  '  Bishop 
Wilson  on  the  Lord's  Supper,'  I  met  with  an  expression  to 
this  effect,  1 7iat  the  Jezvs  kneiv  xvhat  they  did  when  they 
transferred  their  sin  to  the  head  of  their  offering.  The 
thought  rushed  into  my  mind.  What !  may  I  transfer  all  my 
guilt  to  another  ?  Has  God  provided  an  Offering  for  me, 
that  I  may  lay  my  sins  on  his  Head  ?  Then,  God  willing, 
I  will  not  bear  them  on  my  own  soul  one  moment  longer. 
Accordingly  I  sought  to  lay  my  sins  upon  the  sacred  head 
of  Jesus,  and  on  the  Wednesday  began  to  have  a  hope 
of  mercy ;  on  the  Thursday  that  hope  increased  ;  on  the 
Friday  and  Saturday  it  became  more  strong ;  and  on 
Easter  Sunday  (April  4)  I  awoke  early  with  these  words 
upon  my  heart  and  lips,  'Jesus  Christ  is  risen  to-day! 
Alleluia  !  Alleluia  ! '  From  that  hour  peace  flowed  in  rich 
abundance  into  my  soul." 


LVII.     Some  Rules  for  the  Christian  Life.     Lev. 

xviii.  4,  5.  "  Ye  shall  do  My  judgments,  and  keep  My  ordi- 
nances, to  tvalk  therein :  I  am  the  Lord  your  God.  Ye  shall 
therefore  keep  My  statutes,  and  My  Judgments  :  which  if  a  man 
do,  he  shall  live  in  them :  I  am  the  Lord." 

Joseph  Alleine  tells  in  a  letter  to  a  clergyman  what 
were  the  rules  he  imposed  upon  himself  in  the  Christian 
life  and  ministry. 

"  Never  to  lie  down,  but  in  the  name  of  God  :  not  barely 
for  natural  refreshment,  but  that  a  Avearied  servant  of 
Christ  may  be  recruited  and  fitted  to  serve  Him  better 
next  day. 

"  Never  to  rise  up  but  with  this  resolution.  Well,  I  will  go 
forth  this  day  in  the  name  of  God,  and  will  make  religion 
my  business,  and  spend  the  day  for  eternity. 


28  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

"  Never  to  enter  upon  my  calling  but  first  thinking,  I 
will  do  these  things  as  unlo  God. 

"  Never  to  sit  down  to  the  table,  but  resolving,  I  will  not 
eat  merely  to  please  my  appetite,  but  to  strengthen  myself 
for  my  Master's  work. 

"  Never  to  make  a  visit  but  upon  some  holy  design, 
resolving  to  leave  something  of  God  where  I  go,  and  in 
every  company  to  leave  some  good  savour  behind. 

"This  is  what  I  have  been  for  some  time  learning,  and 
am  pressing  hard  after:  and  if  I  strive  not  to  walk  by  these 
rules,  let  this  paper  witness  against  me." 

LVIII.  Honesty  of  the  Huguenots.  Lev.  xix.  36. 
'•''  Jtist  balances^  just  7veights,  a  just  ephah,  and  a  just  hin,  shall 
ye  have  :  I  am  the  Lord  your  God,  which  brought  you  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt." 

The  name  "  Huguenot  "  has  received  several  explanations, 
but  the  most  plausible  one  is  suggested  by  Dr.  Baird, 
that  it  was  derived  from  a  popular  hobgoblin,  known  as 
"Huguet"  or  "  Le  Roy  Huguon,"  to  which  the  super- 
stitious folk  likened  the  Protestants  whom  they  saw  flitting 
under  cover  of  the  darkness  to  their  secret  conventicles. 

The  testimony  to  the  character  of  these  people,  as  distin- 
guished from  some  of  their  military  and  political  leaders, 
is  very  explicit  and  honourable.  "The  Huguenot  never 
swears,"  was  a  common  saying.  Their  honesty  was  also  a 
proverb.  The  manufacturers  called  them  "a  silly  sort  of 
people,"  because  the  silk  which  they  brought  did  not  have 
to  be  re-weighed.  They  were  people  of  great  industry  and 
thrift.  Hon.  John  Jay,  who  has  made  a  life-long  study  of 
the  history  of  the  Huguenots  in  America,  says  that  he 
"  never  heard  of  one  of  them  who  asked  or  received  alms  "  ; 
nor  has  he  reason  to  think  that,  notwithstanding  their 
privations,  "any  of  them  came  to  this  country  in  a  destitute 
condition."  Gov.  Lovelace  wrote  to  the  king  of  England  : 
"  I  find  some  of  these  people  have  the  breeding  of  courts, 
and  I  cannot  conceive  how  such  is  acquired."  The  devout 
and  practical  quality  of  their  religion  is  exemplified  by  such 
instances  as  that  which  attended  the  arrival  of  the  party 
which  settled  at  New  Paltz,  on  the  Hudson  River.  They 
had  no  sooner  hitched  their  horses  than  they  gathered  in 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  2g 

a  group,  when  Psalm  xlvi.  was  read,  and  they  kneeled 
together  in  a  prayer  of  thankfulness  and  dedication  to  the 
Lord,  who  had  led  them  in  the  wilderness. 

A  single  case  may  be  cited  as  an  illustration  of  the 
whole.  Amadee  was  a  youth  of  eighteen,  living  in  the 
province  of  Pcrigord.  His  mother,  a  widow,  had  twenty- 
two  soldiers  quartered  upon  her  during  the  dragonnades. 
For  the  sake  of  her  children  she  signed  a  recantation.  But 
because  she  added  "  compelled  by  fear,"  they  were  carried 
off  to  convents,  except  Amadee,  who  escaped,  but  was 
arrested  on  the  frontier  with  a  young  comrade.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  intimidate  or  seduce  this  young  Chris- 
tian and  Faithful  into  abjuring  their  belief  A  rich  and 
beautiful  wife  was  promised  to  Amadee  if  he  would  become 
a  Papist.  An  attractive  and  attracted  young  Catholic  girl 
even  visited  him  in  his  cell,  and  offered  herself  to  him  with 
tears  of  pity  and  tenderness.  Standing  firm  even  against 
this  allurement,  he  was  condemned  to  the  galleys. 

The  labour  of  the  galley-slave  is  thus  described  in  the 
memoir  which  was  published  of  him :  "  Six  men  are 
chained  to  each  bench  wholly  naked,  sitting  with  one  foot 
on  a  block  of  timber,  the  other  resting  on  the  bench  before 
them,  holding  in  their  hands  an  enormous  oar  fifty  feet 
long.  Imagine  them  lengthening  their  bodies,  their  arms 
stretched  out  to  push  the  oar  over  the  backs  of  those 
before  them  ;  they  then  plunged  the  oar  into  the  sea,  and 
fall  back  into  the  hollow  below,  to  repeat  again  and  again 
the  same  muscular  exertion.  The  fatigue  and  misery  of 
their  labour  seems  to  be  without  a  parallel.  They  often 
faint,  and  are  brought  to  life  by  the  lash  ;  sometimes  they 
are  thrown  into  the  sea,  and  another  takes  the  place." 

By  reason  of  his  intelligence  and  integrity  this  young 
man  was  offered  the  position  of  keeper  of  the  supplies, 
which  exempted  him  from  labour  at  the  oar.  But  he  relin- 
quished it  in  favour  of  another  Huguenot,  an  old  and  feeble 
man,  and  returned  to  his  torture  and  his  vile  companions. 
In  an  engagement  with  an  English  frigate  he  was  the  only 
survivor  of  eighteen  who  occupied  three  benches,  and  was 
himself  severely  mutilated. 

The  story  of  the  woes  of  this  noble  young  confessor  as 
he  and  his  companions  were  transferred  from  the  galleys 
of  Dunkirk  to  those  of  Marseilles  :   marched  across  the 


30  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

country  on  foot  for  three  hundred  miles  with  shackles 
about  their  necks  ;  confined  in  a  horrible  prison  in  Paris, 
so  chained  in  ranks  that  they  could  neither  stand  nor  lie 
down  ;  in  winter  chained  upon  the  wharves  with  neither 
fire  nor  blankets  ;  obliged  to  exhibit  themselves  in  all  sorts 
of  ridiculous  attitudes  and  degrading-  antics  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  visitors — all  this  is  too  painful  to  be  recapitulated. 
More  fortunate  than  most  of  his  brethren,  Amadee,  with 
a  io-Vf  otiiers,  was  released  by  the  intercession  of  Queen 
Anne  of  England,  on  condition  of  quitting  France.  They 
repaired  to  Geneva,  where  they  were  received  with  joy  and 
tenderness. 

LIX.     The  Duty  of  Charity.     Lev.  xxv.  35.     '■' Atid  if 

thy  brother  be  ivaxen  poor,  and  fallen  in  decay,  with  thee  ; 
then  thou  shalt  relieve  him :  yea,  though  he  be  a  stranger,  or 
a  sojourner ;  that  he  may  live  with  thee.'" 

There  are  eight  degrees  or  steps,  says  Maimonides,  in  the 
duty  of  charity  : 

The  first  and  lowest  degree  is  to  give,  but  with  reluc- 
tance or  regret — the  gift  of  the  hand,  but  not  of  the  heart. 

The  second  is  to  give  cheerfully,  but  not  proportionably 
to  the  distress  of  the  sufferer. 

The  third  is  to  give  cheerfully  and  proportionably,  but 
not  until  we  are  solicited. 

The  fourth  is  to  give  cheerfully,  proportionably,  and 
even  unsolicited  ;  but  to  put  it  in  the  poor  man's  hand, 
thereby  exciting  in  him  the  painful  emotion  of  shame. 

The  fifth  is  to  give  charity  in  such  a  way  that  the  dis- 
tressed may  receive  the  bounty  and  know  the  benefactor, 
without  their  being  known  to  him.  Such  was  the  conduct 
of  some  of  our  ancestors,  who  used  to  tie  up  money  in  the 
hind-corners  of  their  cloaks,  so  that  the  poor  might  take  it 
unperceived. 

The  sixth,  which  rises  still  higher,  is  to  know  the  objects 
of  our  bounty,  but  remain  unknown  to  them.  Such  was 
the  conduct  of  those  who  used  to  convey  their  charitable 
gifts  into  poor  people's  homes,  taking  care  that  their  own 
names  should  remain  unknown. 

The  seventh  is  still  more  meritorious  ;  namely,  to  bestow 
charity  in  such  a  way  that  the  benefactor  may  not  know 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  31 

the  relieved  objects,  nor  tliey  tlie  name  of  their  benefactor  : 
as  was  done  by  our  charitable  forefathers  during  the  exis- 
tence of  the  temple  ;  for  there  was  in  the  holy  building 
a  place,  called  the  Chamber  of  Silence  or  Unostentation, 
wherein  the  good  deposited  secretly  whatever  their  generous 
hearts  suggested,  and  from  which  the  most  respectable  poor 
families  were  maintained  with  equal  secrecy. 

Lastly,  the  eighth,  and  most  meritorious  of  all,  is  to 
anticipate  charity  by  preventing  poverty,  to  assist  the 
reduced  brother  before  he  be  forced  to  hold  out  his  hand 
for  charity.  This  is  the  highest  step,  and  the  summit 
of  charity's  golden  ladder. 

LX.  Reverencing  the  Sanctuary.  Lev.  xxvi.  2. 
"  Ye  shall  keep  My  sabbaths,  and  reverence  My  sanctuary :  1 
am  the  Loriiy 

When  Colonel  Turner,  a  gallant  cavalier,  was  hanged  for 
burglary,  he  told  the  crowd  gathered  round  the  gallows 
that  his  mind  received  great  consolation  from  the  thought 
that  he  had  always  taken  his  hat  off  when  he  went  into 
a  church. 

LXI.  Trivial  Hindrances  keeping  back  from 
Public  Worship.  Lev.  xxvi.  2.  "  Ye  shall  keep  My 
sabbaths,  and  reverence  My  sanctuary :  I  am  the  Lord." 

Of  good  Archbishop  Leigliton  it  is  said,  that  the  Sabbath 
was  his  delight ;  no  slight  hindrance  could  detain  him 
from  the  house  of  prayer.  Upon  one  occasion,  when  he 
was  indisposed,  the  day  being  stormy,  his  friends  urged 
him,  on  account  of  his  health,  not  to  venture  to  church. 

"  Were  the  weather  fair,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  would  stay 
at  home ;  but  since  it  is  otherwise  I  must  go,  lest  I  be 
thought  to  countenance  by  my  example  the  irreligious 
practice  of  allowing  trivial  hindrances  to  keep  me  back 
from  public  worship." 

LXII.     A    Boy    Martyr.      Num.  vi.  25,  26.      ''The  Lord 
make  His  face  shi7ie  upon  thee,     .     .     .     and  give  thee  peace." 

William  Brown  was  a  poor  boy  martyr  in  the  reign  of 
Queen   Mary.     He  was  burnt  at   Brentwood.     "  Pray  for 


32  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

me,"  he  said  to  the  bystanders.  One  of  them  replied,  "  I 
will  pray  no  more  for  thee  than  I  will  pray  for  a  dog." 
"  Then,"  said  William,  "  Son  of  God,  shine  Thou  upon 
me  !  "  And  lo!  at  once  on  a  dark,  cloudy  day,  the  sun- 
shine burst  forth  upon  him,  and  kindled  a  glory  upon 
his  youthful  face  ;  "  whereat  the  people  mused,  because  it 
was  so  dark  a  little  time  before."  Happy  are  they  on 
whom  the  Son  of  God  shall  thus  smile. 

LXIII.       How  John   Williams    was  Converted. 

Num.  X,  29.       "  Come  thou  zvilh  iis,  a?id  we  will  do  i/iee  good." 

John  Williams,  the  well-known  missionary  to  the  South 
Sea  Islands,  when  loitering  about  on  a  Sabbath  evening 
in  early  life,  was  persuaded  to  go  and  hear  a  sermon  ;  by 
the  grace  of  God,  by  that  sermon  he  was  converted, 
and  became  one  of  the  greatest  missionaries  of  modern 
times. 

LXIV.     Building  up  in  their  most  holy  Faith. 

NuM  xii.   3.     "  A^07ii  the  man  Moses  was  very  meek." 

Mr.  MoSTYN,  one  of  Wales'  early  ministers,  was  remark- 
ably humble.  When  he  was  assistant  to  another  minister, 
some  good  people  in  his  hearing  ascribing  their  conversion, 
under  God,  to  that  minister's  preaching,  he  seemed  de- 
jected, as  if  he  were  of  no  use.  A  sensible  countryman 
present,  who  had  a  particular  value  for  his  ministry,  made 
this  observation  for  his  encouragement:  "An  ordinary 
workman  may  hew  down  timber,  but  it  must  be  an  ac- 
complished artist  that  shall  frame  it  for  the  building."  Mr. 
Mostyn  cheerfully  replied,  "  If  I  am  of  any  use,  I  am  satis- 
fied."    His  preaching  was  eminently  useful  to  Christians. 

LXV.      Aaron's    Rod.     Num.  xvii.  8.       ^^ Behold  the  rod 
of  Aaron  for  the  house  of  Levitvas  budded." 

Mr.  Ruskin  takes  up  the  legend  of  St.  Christopher,  and 
writes  thus  : 

"  I  do  not  know,"  he  says,  "  how  far  the  tale  of  St. 
Christopher  is  proposed  by  the  Catholic  Church  for  belief 
as  history,  or  with  interpretation  as  myth.  I  could  myself 
much  more  easily  explain  it  as  the  gradually  enriched  and 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


sunset-gilded  tradition  of  a  dream  and  vision  seen  by  a 
hermit-ferryman,  than  I  can  interpret  its  incidents  as  S)'m- 
bolizing  any  course  of  facts  of  spiritual  life.  Reading  it 
as  a  myth,  I  am  myself  utterly  uncertain  of  the  meaning 
of  the  king,  the  hermit,  the  river,  or  the  oppression  felt  by 
the  saint  in  bearing  Ilim  whose  yoke  is  easy  and  whose 
burden  is  light.  But  I  will  hope  for  the  reader's  pleasure 
in  being  reminded  of  Tintoret's  figure  of  St.  Christopher 
in  paradise  (in  the  Ducal  Palace  at  Venice),  bearing  the 
globe  of  the  world,  which  is  surmounted  by  a  cross,  and 
by  whose  surface  a  beam  of  light  descending  from  the 
enthroned  Christ  is  reflected  in  a  dazzling  star.  By  which 
1  have  always  understood  Tintoret  to  mean  what  Holman 
Hunt  means  by  his  "Light  of  the  World,"  but  with  the 
further  lesson  that  the  visitation  which  was  to  sanctify 
our  world  for  us  with  eternal  day  would  come  first  through 
the  deepest  night,  and  in  the  heaviest  toil  of  the  occu- 
pation which  was  our  earthly  duty.  I  think  also  that 
Tintoret  may  have  intended  to  make  us  feel  how  greatly 
the  story  of  St.  Christopher  had  been  itself  a  light  to  all 
the  Christian,  and  might  be  to  all  the  future,  world.  But 
none  of  these  lessons  by  great  imaginative  interpreters, 
however  probable,  guides  us  to  any  clear  reading  of  the 
legend  for  all  men,  in  the  continuous  action  of  it ;  nor,  if 
any  such  could  be  given,  would  the  application  be  other 
than  forced  and  untrustworthy..  At  first  thought  most 
of  us  would  suppose  the  river  meant  human  life ;  but 
that  river  we  do  not  cross,  but  descend  :  we  are  troubled 
when  it  is  troubled,  calm  when  it  is  calm.  We  do  not 
resist  its  current  nor  refuse  its  peace.  Again,  in  memory 
of  more  recent  fables,  we  might  think  of  it  as  the  river 
of  death  ;  but  the  travellers  whom  the  saint  carried  over 
resumed  their  journey,  and  he  himself,  finally  fording  it, 
begins  his  true  ministry  of  the  gospel.  Take  it  for  some 
chief  time  of  trouble,  and  we  might  perhaps,  without  much 
strain,  suppose  the  meaning  to  be  that  the  man  who  had 
sustained  others  in  their  chief  earthly  trials  afterwards  had 
Christ  for  companion  in  his  own  ;  but  this  idea  would 
never  occur  easily  and  naturally  to  very  simple  persons 
who  heard  the  story ;  it  is  rare  that,  among  the  many 
confused  evils  of  existence,  any  of  us  can  fix  on  that  which, 
once  traversed,  was  to  be  feared  no  more ;  and  I  should 

D 


34  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

be  extremely  reluctant  to  offer  to  my  Protestant  readers, 
as  the  true  sense  of  the  loveliest  of  Catholic  legends,  the 
thought  that  common  people  were  only  to  have  a  saint 
to  comfort  them  in  their  troubles,  while  the  saint  himself 
had  Christ.  More  and  more,  as  I  think  over  it,  I  am  led 
to  take  it  for  the  memory  of  what  really  once  happened 
to  sowie  kindly  warden  of  a  river  ford,  bearing  by  the 
grace  of  natural  human  feeling  comfort  afterwards  to  all 
who  hear  of  it  for  ever." 

The  legend  goes  on  to  relate  how  the  dry  fir  tree  that 
St.  Christopher  carried  in  his  hand  became  green,  after  his 
ministry,  and  was  covered  with  fresh  leaves.  Mr.  Ruskin 
compares  with  this  the  blossoming  of  the  spears  of  Charle- 
macrne's  knights  in  the  windows  of  Chartres  cathedral,  and 
adds,  "  It  is,  I  suppose,  only  by  the  coincidence  of  thought 
which  runs  through  all  great  literature  and  legend,  that 
the  putting  forth  of  blossom  by  the  rod  of  Aaron,  and 
of  leaf  by  the  staff  of  St.  Christopher,  teach  the  life  and 
beneficence  of  the  sceptres  of  the  just,  as  the  for  ever 
leafless  sceptre  of  Achilles,  and  the  spear  whose  image 
was  the  pine,  hewn  for  ships  of  battle  from  the  Norwegian 
hills,  show  in  their  own  death  the  power  of  the  kings  of 
death." 

LXVI.  Results  are  in  God's  Hands.  Num.  xxi. 
4.  "  The  soul  of  the  people  zvas  much  discouraged  because 
of  the  7vay" 

A  DISCOURAGED  minister  had  the  following  strange  dream. 
He  thought  he  was  standing  on  the  top  of  a  great  granite 
rock,  trying  to  break  it  with  a  pickaxe.  Hour  after  hour 
he  worked  on  with  no  result.  At  last  he  said,  "  It  is 
useless;  I  will  stop."  Suddenly  a  man  stood  by  him  and 
asked:  "Were  you  not  allotted  this  task?  and  if  so,  why 
are  you  going  to  abandon  it.?  "  "  My  work  is  vain  ;  I  can 
make  no  impression  on  the  granite."  Then  the  stranger 
solemnly  replied  :  "That  is  nothing  to  you;  your  duty  is  to 
pick,  whether  the  rock  yield  or  no.  The  work  is  yours, 
the  results  are  in  other  hands  ;  work  on/'  In  his  dream 
he  saw  himself  setting  himself  anew  to  his  labour,  and  at 
his  first  blow  the  rock  flew  into  hundreds  of  pieces.  This 
was  only  a  dream,  but  it  proved  a  valuable  and  never 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  35 

forgotten  lesson  to  the  minister,  and  a  means  of  comfort 
and  cheer  to  his  soul. 

LXVII.  Solid  Happiness.  Num.  xxiii.  10.  ^^  Let  me 
lUe  t/ie  diatli  of  tlie  ri;^/i/coiis,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like 
his!" 

"  My  first  convictions  on  the  subject  of  religion,"  says  the 
late  Rev.  R.  Cecil,  "were  confirmed  by  observing  that  really 
religious  persons  had  some  solid  happiness  among  them, 
which  I  felt  tlie  vanities  of  the  world  could  not  give,  I 
shall  never  forget  standing  by  the  bedside  of  my  sick 
mother.  'Are  not  you  afraid  to  die .-' '  I  asked.  'No.' 
'  Why  does  the  uncertainty  of  another  state  give  you  no 
concern?'  'Because  God  has  said:  "Fear  not.  .  . 
When  thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee; 
and  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee." 
'  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous.'  " 

LXVIII.     The  Bliss  of   Dying.    Num.  xxiii.  10.     '' T/ie 
death  of  the  righteous." 

The  Rev,  Henry  Venn,  of  Huddersfield,  and  latterly  of 
Yelling,  in  Huntingdonshire,  was  so  elated  at  the  prospect 
of  death,  that  it  actually  proved  a  stimulus  to  life  Upon 
one  occasion,  as  he  lay  on  his  death-bed,  he  himself  re- 
marked some  bad  symptoms,  and  said  to  Mr,  Pearson, 
"  Surely  these  are  good  "symptoms  for  me"  ;  to  which  his 
medical  attendant  replied,  "  Sir,  in  this  state  of  joyous 
excitement  you  cannot  die."  The  joy  of  dying  kept  him 
alive. 

LXIX.    Ready  to  Go.     Num.   xxiii,   10,     *^ Let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 

John  Eltas,  the  great  Welsh  preacher,  had  a  happy  death. 
It  may  be  said  of  him  in  the  exquisite  lines  of  Dr,  Watts — 

"  He  stood ,  but  with  his  starry  pinions  on, 
Dressed  for  the  flight,  and  ready  to  be  gone." 

As  he  lay  on  his  death-bed  he  said  :  "  I  am  as  liappy  as 
it  is  possible  for  a  redeemed  man  to  be,  though  in  pain, 
in  pain.     There  is  not  a  cloud  between  me  and  the  face  of 


36  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

tny  God.  The  blessings  and  mercies  I  used  to  enjoy  in 
my  ministry  are  still  flowing  freely  into  my  soul.  They 
are  more  powerful,  more  lively  in  their  effects  on  my  soul 
than  ever  I  felt  them  when  I  preached  them  to  others." 
Thus  he  passed  away  on  June  8th,  1841,  to  his  Saviour 
and  his  reward.  His  body  was  carried  at  the  head  of 
a  funeral  procession  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  to  the  grave 
at  Llanfaes,  near  Beaumaris. 

The  Lord  God  of  Elijah  is  still  present  in  Israel,  but 
the  sons  of  the  prophets  need  a  double  portion  of  the 
Spirit.  Let  the  Churches  lift  up  their  cry,  "  Oh  that  Thou 
wouldest  rend  the  heavens,  that  Thou  wouldest  come 
down  ! "  So  shall  greater  deeds  be  wrought,  and  minis- 
tries given  to  the  Church  as  powerful  and  as  fruitful  as 
was  that  of  John  Elias. 

LXX.     The    First  Telegram    in    America.     Num. 

xxiii.   23.     ^'■According  to  this  time  it  shall  be  said  of  Jacob 
and  of  Israel^   What  hath  God  wrought !  " 

The  first  words  ever  flashed  along  an  electric  wire  in 
America  were,  "  What  hath  God  wrought !  "  sent  by  a 
young  girl  from  Washington  to  Baltimore.  And  when 
man's  science  subdued  the  forces  of  the  lightning  and 
the  ocean,  and  the  electric  cable  first  flashed  its  words 
from  hemisphere  to  hemisphere,  almost  the  first  message 
was,  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace, 
goodwill  toward  men." 

LXXI.     The  Detection  of  Sin  is  Certain.     Num. 

xxxii.  23.     '■'■  Be  S2n-e  yotir  sin  will  fi7id you  out^ 

In  the  most  mysterious  manner  does  the  providence  of 
God  sometimes  expose  crime.  The  singular  movements 
of  some  domestic  animals  ;  the  words  written  upon  the 
wadding  of  some  discharged  gun;  the  caving  in  of  banks, 
in  the  sand  of  which  dead  bodies  have  been  buried;  and 
other  things  as  trivial,  lead  to  the  detection  of  criminals 
who  suppose  they  have  concealed  all  tokens  of  guilt  in  the 
graves  of  their  victims.  It  is  related  of  an  eminent 
clergyman,  that  on  one  occasion,  while  walking  in  a  grave- 
yard, he  saw  the  sexton  throwing  up  the  bones  of  a 
human    being.      He  took  the    skull  in  his  hands,  and  on 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  37 

examination  saw  a  nail  sticking  into  the  temple.  He  drew 
it  out,  placed  it  in  his  pocket,  and  asked  the  sexton  whose 
skull  it  was.  On  receiving  the  necessary  information,  he 
went  to  the  widow,  now  an  aged  woman,  and  entered  into 
conversation  with  her.  He  asked  lier  of  what  disease  her 
husband  died,  and  while  she  was  giving  an  answer  drew 
the  nail  from  his  vest,  and  asked  her  if  she  had  ever  seen 
it  before.  -Struck  with  horror,  the  wretched  woman  con- 
fessed that  she  had  murdered  her  husband,  and  that  her 
own  hand  had  driven  into  his  temple  that  nail. 

LXXII.      Good   turned   to    Evil.      Deut.    xxiv.    24. 
"  For  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  coiisuiinng  fire." 

A  GLASS  inkstand  was  placed  on  the  table  so  that  the 
sun's  rays  fell  upon  it.  Brightly  and  cheerily,  no  doubt, 
they  played  upon  its  facets  and  angles  ;  but  that  inkstand 
affected  these  beautiful  sunbeams  in  such  a  way  as  to 
extract  from  them  heat  in  sufficient  force  to  set  the  table 
upon  which  it  stood  on  fire,  reducing  it,  and  all  it  came 
in  contact  with,  into  ashes.  What  is  there  more  beauti- 
ful than  the  sunbeams?  How  they  cheer  and  cherish 
and  inspire  nature  all  around  I  yet  there  are  some  objects 
which  can  convert  this  thing  of  beauty  and  health  and  life 
into  a  consuming  fire.  So  there  are  moral  characters 
which  extract  death  out  of  life  ;  transform  the  loving,  life- 
giving  gospel  into  an  instrument  of  destruction  ;  in  short, 
cause  the  God  of  love  to  become  to  them  a  consuming 
fire. 

LXXIII.        The      Stranger    within     thy     Gates. 

Deut.  v.   14.     "  Thy  stranger  that  is  within  thj  gates." 

A  HIGHLY  cultivated  lawyer  relates  this  incident  of  his 
early  days.  When  a  thoughtless  youth,  he  wandered  away 
to  a  distant  city.  The  Sabbath  came,  and  he  was  alone, 
with  nothing  but  his  own  fancy  or  inclination  to  guide  him 
in  his  selection  of  a  place  of  worship.  As  he  was  going 
along  the  street,  he  passed  by  the  door  of  a  Bethel  chapel. 
Hearing  the  voice  of  prayer,  he  turned  back  and  entered. 
Scarcely  was  he  seated,  before  the  preacher,  among  the 
subjects  of  petition  prayed  for  "the  stranger  within  our 
gates."     He  remained  till  the  service  was  concluded,  and 


38  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

went  to  his  room  in  tears.  The  words  of  supplication 
gathered  around  the  word  "stranger"  rang  in  his  memory. 
After  relating  the  circumstance  the  lawyer  adds  :  "  In  public 
mini:strations  never  forget  the  'stranger  within  thy  gates.' 
You  will  touch  some  heart,  which  will  vibrate  to  the 
appeal." 

LXXIV.     The  Arithmetic  of  Heaven.     Deut.  vi.  4. 
"  The  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord.''^ 

Daniel  Webster  had  been  attending  Divine  service  in 
the  Park-street  Church,  Boston.  It  is  a  staunch,  orthodox 
church,  and  at  that  time  was  not  in  high  favour  with  the 
Unitarians.  Coming  away  from  church,  he  was  met  by 
a  Unitarian  gentleman,  who  said  to  him,  "  So  you  have 
been  to  church,  where  they  teach  that  three  times  one  are 
one  I "  Mr.  Webster  replied  with  that  solemn  voice  of  his, 
now  more  intensely  solemn  than  usual,  "  My  friend,  you 
and  I  do  not  understand  the  arithmetic  of  heaven." 

If  any  man  less  than  Mr.  Webster  had  made  this  reply, 
it  might  be  considered  an  evasion  of  the  difficulty  sug- 
gested. Mr.  Webster  had  been  attending  a  church  where 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  taught.  Three  Persons  in  one 
Godhead,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  Three  in  One. 
No  human  intellect  can  comprehend  the  mode  of  such 
existence  ;  and  some  there  are  who  reject  the  truth, 
because  it  does  not  seem  to  them  reasonable  that  One 
should  be  Three,  and  Three  should  be  One. 

LXXV.  Loving  God.  Deut.  vi.  5.  '■^ And  tJiou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  might" 

Sir  David  Brewster  was  an  earnest  searcher  after  light. 
A  memorable  incident  we  give  in  the  words  of  his  loving 
biographer.  She  is  recording  a  conversation  which  her 
father  had  with  her  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Macpherson,  who 
sa}-s  :  "  I  had  a  long  talk  with  dear  papa  upon  the  suffer- 
ing of  Christ,  from  which  we  passed  on  to  speaking  of  the 
gratitude  due  to  God.  .  .  .  We  spoke  of  the  possi- 
bility of  feeling  any  love  towards  God,  and  agreed  that 
such  a  sentiment  of  love  as  is  possible  between  man  and 
man  was  impossible  between   man  and   God.     'How  can 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  39 

we  love  Ilim,'  he  s;i'cl,  'One  whom  we  have  not  seen? 
We  admire  Ilim  in  Mis  works,  and  trust  from  the  wisdom 
seen  in  these  that  He  is  wise  in  all  His  dealings  ;  but  how 
can  we  LOVE  Him  ? '  "  After  this  conversation,  his  daughter- 
in-law,  being  herself  led  to  understand  how  alone  the  love 
of  the  unseen  Christ  can  be  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  by 
the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  felt  that  she  must  confess 
this  change  in  her  views  and  feelings.  "  He  listened  most 
attentively,  and  when  I  had  finished,  took  me  in  his  arms, 
kissed  me,  and  said,  in  such  a  child-like  manner,  '  Go  now 
then,  and  pray  that  I  may  know  it  too.'  " 

LXXVI.     A    Question    for    Parents.     Deut.    vi,    7. 

"  A  fid  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children^ 

It  is  related  of  Ben  Ezra,  that  when  yet  a  child  he  asked 
his  teacher  to  be  instructed  in  the  law  of  God  ;  but  he  was 
told  that  he  was  yet  too  young  to  be  taught  these  sacred 
mysteries.  "  But,  master,"  said  the  boy,  "  I  have  been  in 
the  burial-ground,  and  I  have  measured  the  graves,  and  I 
find  some  shorter  than  myself  Now  if  I  should  be  taken 
away  by  death  before  I  know  the  word  of  God,  what  will 
become  of  me  after  ?  " 

LXXVII.     The  Haus-Segen.     Deut.  vi.  9.     '' And  thou 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of  thy  house,  and  on  thy  gates." 

The  mountainous  region  in  the  south-east  of  Bavaria  is 
the  home  of  a  race  of  people,  simple,  pious,  and  primitive 
in  their  habits,  even  to  the  present  day.  It  is  the  common 
custom  of  the  Bavarian  peasants  to  afiix  the  "  Haus-Segen  " 
to  their  house  doors.  This  is  a  paper,  with  the  outline  of 
a  heart  printed  in  the  centre,  and  surrounded  by  a  circlet 
of  smaller  hearts.  Each  heart  contains  a  prayer  or  some 
sacred  verse,  and  the  paper  is  sometimes  decorated  with 
tints  of  red,  blue,  and  yellow. 

LXXVIII.  Scripture  Texts.  Deut.  xi.  18.  ''There- 
fore shall  ye  lay  up  these  my  wo)'ds  in  your  heart  and  in  your 
soul,  and  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  your  hand,  that  they  may 
be  as  frontlets  bdiceen  your  eyes." 

Texts  of  Scripture  used  to  be  painted  on  the  doors  of 
the  Puritans,  and  over  their  fireplaces.     Texts  used  to  be 


40  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Stamped  on  kettles  and  skillets,  wrought  into  garments, 
and  even  carved  on  the  wooden  cradles.  The  language  of 
the  Bible  was  with  them  the  language  of  every-day  life. 

LXXIX.  Duty  of  Liberality.  Deut.  xv.  7.  "Thou 
shall  7iot  harden  thine  heart,  nor  shut  thine  hand  from  thy 
poor  brother." 

Mr.  Sherman  had  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  needy  very 
much  at  heart.  On  a  Friday  morning's  service,  when  his 
congregation  was,  as  it  often  was,  a  scanty  one,  the  subject 
was  Elisha  multiplying  the  poor  widow's  oil  to  pay  the 
demands  of  her  creditors.  He  depicted  the  need  of  poor 
widows,  especially  of  ministers'  widows,  often  left  utterly 
destitute,  and  mentioned  a  case  just  then  known  to  him, 
where  £2^  pounds  were  needed  to  apprentice  a  minister's 
son  ;  and  with  such  effect,  that  the  dozen  or  two  people 
present  subscribed  ;^i8  before  leaving  the  hall,  more  than 
enough  to  complete  the  sum  required  being  sent  in  after- 
wards. Mr.  Sherman  was  himself  a  man  of  great  bene- 
volence. He  gave  liberally  himself.  We  are  told  that  his 
house  was  like  the  house  of  the  relieving  officer,  besieged 
by  needy  applicants,  and  a  deserving  case  was  never  sent 
'unhelped  away.  The  old  people  in  the  almshouses  were 
often  gladdened  by  parcels  of  tea  and  sugar  or  by  small 
presents  of  money,  and  he  never  failed  to  remember  them 
in  his  Christmas  gifts. 

LXXX.  Succour  Men  in  Distress.  Deut.  xv.  ii. 
"  For  the  poor  shall  7iever  cease  out  of  the  land :  therefore  1 
command  thee,  saying,  Thou  shall  open  thine  hand  wide  unto 
thy  brother,  to  thy  poor,  and  to  thy  needy,  in  thy  land." 

I  WAS  very  much  struck  with  an  old  Englishman  that  I 
knew,  who  used  to  do  a  great  deal  of  amateur  preaching 
and  amateur  teaching,  visiting  jails  and  poorhouses,  who 
said  to  me  one  day,  "  I  make  them  understand,  wherever 
I  go,  that  I  am  never  going  to  give  them  anything."  I 
said  to  m}'self,  "  That  being  the  general  rule  of  your  minis- 
tration, I  would  not  give  the  turn  of  my  hand  for  all  the 
good  that  you  will  do."  A  man  who  determines  that  he 
will  not  succour  men  that  are  in  physical  distress,  through 
all  the   range  of  his  ministration,   will  not  do  any  good. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  41 

I  did  not  then  believe  that  he  did  any  good  ;  I  do  not 
bchcve  it  now  ;  and  since  he  is  dead,  I  do  not  think  he 
beheves  it. 

LXXXI.  Moral  Training  of  the  Young.  Deut. 
xxxii.  46.  "  And  lie  said  unto  them.  Set  your  hearts  unto 
all  the  words  which  I  testify  amotig  you  this  day,  which  ye 
shall  covnmijid your  children  to  observe  to  do,  all  the  words  of 
this  law.'" 

The  strong  feehng  which  Erasmus  always  had  in  regard 
to  the  careful  moral  training  of  the  young  appears  in  his 
"  Manual."  "  Let  parents,"  he  says,  "  who  are  Christians,  not 
utter  words  before  their  children  which  give  the  lie  to  their 
faith.  Let  not  the  Christian  mother  indulge  in  unreason- 
able grief  after  bereavement,  and  let  the  father  beware  of 
praising  before  his  children  the  man  who  has  made  a 
fortune  by  doubtful  means." 

LXXXII.    Venture  on  Him.    Deut.  xxxiii.  27.    ^'■Under- 
neath are  the  evei'lasting  armsJ' 

I  ONCE  saw  a  lad  on  the  roof  of  a  very  high  building  where 
several  men  were  at  work.  He  was  gazing  about  with 
apparent  unconcern,  when  his  foot  slipped,  and  he  fell.  In 
falling  he  caught  by  a  rope,  and  hung  suspended  in  mid 
air,  where  he  could  sustain  himself  but  a  short  time.  He 
perfectly  knew  his  situation,  and  expected  in  a  few  minutes 
to  be  dashed  on  the  stones  below.  At  this  moment  a  kind 
and  powerful  man  rushed  out  of  the  house,  and  standing 
beneath  him  with  extended  arms  called  out,  "  Let  go  of 
the  rope  ;  I  will  catch  you."  "  I  can't  do  it,"  said  the  boy, 
"  Let  go,  and  I  promise  you  shall  escape  unhurt."  The 
boy  hesitated  for  a  moment,  and  then  quitting  his  hold, 
dropped  easily  and  safely  into  the  arms  of  his  deliverer. 
Here  is  a  simple  act  of  faith.  The  poor  boy  knew  his 
danger ;  he  saw  his  deliverer,  and  heard  his  voice.  He 
believed  him,  and  letting  go  every  other  dependence  and 
hope,  he  dropped  into  his  arms. 

"  Venture  on  Him,  venture  freely, 
Let  no  other  trust  intrude  ; 

None  but  Jesus 
Can  do  helpless  sinners  good." 


44  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES, 

LXXXIII.  A  Farewell  Scene.  Deut.  xxxiv.  8. 
'■'■And  the  cliildren  of  Israel  wept  for  Moses  in  the  plain  of 
Moab  thirty  days." 

Robert  Moffat  laboured  for  more  than  fifty  years 
in  South  Africa,  and  chiefly  at  Kuruman,  amongst  the 
Bechwanas.  On  Sunday,  March  20th,  1870,  he  preached 
for  the  last  time  in  the  Kuruman  church.  In  all  that 
great  congregation  there  were  few  of  his  own  contem- 
poraries left.  The  older  people  were  for  the  most  part 
children  when  he  first  came  among  them.  With  a  pathetic 
grace,  he  pleaded  with  those  who  still  remained  unbelieving 
amid  the  gospel  privileges  they  had  now  enjoyed  for  so 
many  years,  and  he  commended  to  the  grace  of  God  those 
converts  who  had  been  his  joy  and  crown.  It  was  an 
impressive  close  to  an  impressive  career.  On  the  Friday 
following  the  aged  missionary  and  his  wife  took  their 
departure.  As  they  came  out  of  their  house  and  walked 
to  their  wagon,  they  were  beset  by  crowds  of  the  Bech- 
wanas, each  longing  for  a  hand- shake  and  another  word 
of  farewell  ;  and  as  the  wagon  drove  away  it  was  followed 
by  all  who  could  walk,  and  a  long  and  pitiful  wail  arose, 
enough  to  melt  the  hardest  heart. 


LXXXIV.  Ruskin's  Bible.  Josh.  i.  8.  '' This  book  of 
the  laiu  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth  ;  but  thou  shall  medi- 
tate therein  day  and  niglitP 

John  Ruskin  writes  thus  in  his  "  Outlines  of  Scenes  and 
Thoughts  in  my  Past  Life":  "I  have  just  opened  my 
oldest  (in  use)  l^ible  ;  a  small,  closely,  and  very  neatly 
printed  volume  it  is,  printed  in  Edinburgh  by  Sir  D. 
Hunter,  Blain  &  J.  Bruce,  in  18 16.  Yellow  now  with  age, 
and  flexible,  but  not  unclean,  with  much  use,  except  that 
the  lowest  corners  of  the  pages  at  I  Kings  viii.,  and 
Deuteronomy  xxxii.  are  worn  somewhat  thin  and  dark, 
the  learning  of  these  two  chapters  having  cost  me  much 
pains.  My  mother's  list  of  the  chapters  with  which,  thus 
learned,  she  established  my  soul  in  life,  has  just  fallen  out 
of  it.  I  will  take  what  indulgence  the  incurious  reader  can 
give  me  for  printing  the  list  thus  accidentally  occurrent. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  43 

Exodus  XV.,  XX. 

2  Samuel  i.  from  seventeenth  verse  to  the  end. 

I  Kings  viii. 

Psahiis  xxiii.,  xxxii.,  xc,  xci.,  ciii.,  cxii.,  cxix.,  cxxxix. 

Proverbs  ii.,  iii.,  viii.,  xii, 

Isaiah  Iviii. 

Matthew  v.,  vi.,  vii. 

Acts  xxvi. 

I  Corinthians  xiii.,  xv. 

James  iv. 

Revelation  v.,  vi. 

"  And  truly,  though  I  have  picked  up  the  elements  of 
a  little  further  knowledge — in  mathematics,  meteorology, 
and  the  like — in  after  life,  and  owe  not  a  little  to  the  teach- 
ing of  many  people,  this  maternal  installation  of  my  mind 
in  that  property  of  chapters  I  count  very  confidently  the 
most  precious,  and,  on  the  whole,  the  one  essential  part  of 
all  my  education," 

LXXXV.     Rahab.     Josh.  ii.  i.     '^  And  they  7ae?it,  and  came 
into  a  haj-lofs  house,  named  Rahab,  and  lodged  there." 

"  Rahab  had  wrecked  her  life  ;  mast  was  broken,  sail  was 
gone,  rudder  was  lost !  She  was  a  helpless,  ruined  woman. 
]kit  as  sailors  have  found  a  mere  timber  of  what  was  a 
ship  with  the  compass  clinging  to  it,  and  pointing  away  to 
its  northern  star,  so  from  amidst  the  fragments  of  what 
was  once  a  woman's  life,  as  they  drifted  along  the  streets 
of  Jericho,  Rahab's  heart  was  trembling  away  towards  the 
Star  that  should  come  out  of  Jacob,  and  the  Sceptre  that 
would  rise  out  of  Israel." 

LXXXVI.     A  Moravian   Missionary,     Josh.  xiii.  2,3- 

"  But  unto  the  tribe  of  Levi  Moses  gave  not  any  inheritance  : 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel  was  their  inheritance,  as  he  said  unto 
them." 

The  Moravian  missionary,  Zeisberger,  who  laboured  for 
sixty-three  years  among  the  Red  Indians,  never  took  a 
penny  from  the  Church  for  his  support.  "  I  am  no  hireling," 
he  said  quietly  ;   "  God  set  me  this  work." 

Zeisberger  died  in  extreme  old  age  in  an  Indian  village. 


44  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Bishop  de  Schweinitz,  in  his  history  of  the  Moravian 
missionary,  tells  us  that,  when  the  hour  of  his  deatli  drew 
nigh,  the  passing  bell'  tolled,  and  his  white  friends,  the 
Brethren,  withdrew  and  gave  way  to  the  Lenape  Indians, 
who  gathered  around  his  bed.  They  sang  the  hymns  in 
their  own  tongue,  which  he  had  written  for  them,  and  on 
these  strains  of  lofty  hope  his  soul  passed.  "  Then,"  says 
the  chronicler, '"the  red  men  fell  upon  their  knees,  and 
wept  aloud,  ir-x  they  knew  that  their  best  friend  was  gone 
for  ever." 

LXXXVII.     A     Soldier    of    Jesus    Christ.      Josh. 

xxiv.  24.     "  The  Lord  our  God  will  we  serve,  and  His  voice 
will  we  obey" 

The  following  anecdotes  are  told  of  David  Sandeman,  the 
devoted  missionary  : 

"Delighting  as  he  did  in  vigorous  exercise  and  gymnastic 
feats,  he  one  day,  in  a  walk  with  two  companions,  joined 
for  a  few  minutes  in  the  amusement  of  leaping  over  the 
stile  at  one  corner  of  the  old  Queen's  Park.  While  his 
companions  failed,  he  cleared  the  stile  so  easily  and  grace- 
fully as  to  draw  forth  the  admiration  of  a  dragoon  who 
stood  by.  When  about  to  walk  on  Mr.  Sandeman  turned 
to  the  soldier,  got  him  into  conversation,  and  spoke  of  the 
perils  and  honours  of  a  life  like  his.  Then  suddenly  draw- 
ing himself  up  to  his  full  height,  he  exclaimed  with  deep 
feeling  :  '  There  is  something  far  better  yet !  It  is  to  be 
a  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.  Are  you  that  ?  '  The  dragoon 
looked  with  wonder  on  the  man  of  muscle  and  sinew  who 
could  thus  speak  to  his  soul,  and  shook  hands  at  parting, 
evidently  deeply  interested.  Scenes  like  these  were  con- 
tinually recurring  ;  but  this  power  of  gracefully  turning 
every  little  event  into  a  means  of  usefulness  could  exist 
only  in  one  whose  natural  atmosphere  was  the  love  of  God, 
and  in  whose  soul  there  was  an  uninterrupted  gravitation 
towards  his  Divine  Saviour, 

"  One  day,  in  harvest,  finding  by  the  roadside  a  woman 
cutting  grass,  he  plucked  a  head  of  wheat,  and  told  her  how 
a  corn  of  wheat  must  die  before  that  beaut ilul  head  could 
spring  up,  and  that  so  Christ  must  needs  d.c  ere  we  could 
be  saved.  The  woman  was  astonished,  and  the  young 
missionary  went  on  his  way,  pra\ing  that  the  Lord  might 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  45 

send  his  word  to  her  heart.  So  continually  did  he  act 
upon  his  fax'ourite  text,  '  Whose  I  am,  and  whom  I  serve,' 
that  in  a  brief  summer  excursion  in  the  west  of  Scotland, 
a  companion  of  his  journey  informs  us,  that  he  believes 
that  he  must  have  spoken  to  not  less  than  five  hundred 
persons  in  the  course  of  their  pedestrian  excursion,  and 
that  when  opportunity  occurred  he  was  as  direct  and  ready 
in  addressing  the  rich  as  the  poor." 

LXXXVIII.     Devoutness    of    Spirit.      Jud.    v.    16. 
"  Great  searchings  of  heart." 

The  great  secret  of  all  Sherman's  success  as  a  preacher  lay 
in  the  devoutness  of  his  spirit,  and  the  closeness  of  his 
communion  with  God,  and  his  earnest,  humble  searching 
of  heart.  Here  are  some  of  his  "  resolves,"  dated  Feb.  20th, 
1841  : 

"  I.  To  rise  at  seven  o'clock  every  morning,  and  to  spend 
half  an  hour  with  God  before  breakfast  in  reading  the 
Scriptures  and  prayer. 

"  2.  To  select  some  portion  out  of  one  of  the  chapters 
for  meditation  through  the  day. 

"  3.  To  retire  some  time  during  the  day  for  prayer,  and 
to  give  as  much  time  as  possible  in  the  evening  to  this 
exercise. 

"  4.  To  pray  with  my  dear  wife. 

"  5.  To  seek  specially  the  salvation  of  my  family  by 
pra)  er  and  correspondence. 

"  6.  Not  to  go  where  temptations  to  any  of  my  besetting 
sins  are  sure  to  abound. 

"  7.  To  plead  with  God  for  more  conversions  amongst  the 
people,  and  to  visit  them,  and  to  labour  at  my  sermons  more 
and  more.  Oh,  how  wonderful  that  the  people  will  come 
and  hear  me  !  O  Lord,  strengthen  me,  help  me  to  put  these 
resolves  into  practice,  and  never  to  depart  from  them. 
Now  help  me  to  plead  for  grace  to  perform  my  vows.  Oh, 
kiss  the  prodigal,  and  welcome  him  to  his  Father's  heart  1 " 

LXXXIX.       An     African     Convert.       Ruth    ii.    12. 
"  Under  whose  wings  lliou  art  come  to  trust. " 

In  an  article  by  Robert  IV'oiTat,  the  famed  missionary  to 
the  Africans,  he  tells  of  a  young  man  who  accompanied 


4.6  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

him  in  a  missionary  tour.  Marelole  was  clever  and  intelli- 
gent and  an  inquirer,  who  would  soon  have  been  received 
into  Church  fellowship.  The  camp  was  visited  by  the  well- 
known  African  fever,  and  Marelole  was  seized,  and  had  a 
relapse.  He  became  insensible,  and  lay  for  two  days 
motionless  in  a  comatose  condition,  from  which  no  effort 
could  rouse  him.  On  the  evening  of  the  second  day 
Moffat  was  at  work  repairing  a  wagon,  when  he  heard 
some  one  singing  in  a  clear  voice,  and  on  inquiring  who 
was  singing  to  the  sick  man,  was  told,  "  It  is  himself."  He 
hastened  to  the  spot,  and  found  it  even  so.  The  sick  man 
was  singing  one  of  the  hymns  which  embodied  some  of 
the  thrilling  parts  of  Psalm  Ixxxiv.  Moffat  knelt  down 
beside  him,  and  listened  with  inexpressible  feelings  of  grati- 
tude. As  he  sang  the  last  verse  he  spoke  to  him  ;  he  was 
deaf,  and  his  pulse  was  performing  its  last  beats  ;  and  while 
the  missionary  looked  at  the  now  motionless  lips,  the  spirit 
departed  to  that  heavenly  Zion  about  which  he  had  just 
been  singing. 


XC.     The    Most    Unfashionable    of    all    Books. 

I  Sam.  iii.  4.     "  The  Lord  called  Samuel :  and  he  ansiuered, 
Here  am  /." 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  tells  us  that  he  was  exceedingly 
mortified  when  he  showed  his  picture  of  the  prophet 
Samuel's  call  to  some  of  the  great,  because  they  asked  him 
who  Samuel  was.  One  of  his  friends  told  him  "  that  he 
must  get  somebody  to  make  an  oratorio  of  Samuel,  and 
then  it  would  not  be  vulgar  to  confess  they  knew  some- 
thing of  him.  I  tell  him  that  I  hope  the  poets  and  painters 
will  at  last  bring  the  Bible  into  fashion,  and  that  people 
will  get  to  like  it  from  taste,  though  they  are  insensible 
to  its  spirit,  and  afraid  of  its  doctrines.  I  love  this  great 
genius  for  not  being  ashamed  to  take  his  subjects  from  the 
most  unfashionable  of  all  books." 

XCI.     Called   of  God.     i  Sam.  iii.  4.      '' The  Lord  called 
Samuel :  and  he  anstvered,  Here  am  /." 

David  Zeisberger  was  a  most  devoted  worker  amongst 
the    Red   Indians   of  America,  and  did  a  noble  work  in 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  47 

Christianizing  and  civilizing  these  wild  tribes.  His  early 
history  is  interesting. 

David  Zeisbcrger's  forefathers  were  peasants,  the  follow- 
ers of  John  Huss.  When  he  was  five  years  old  his  family 
fled,  to  escape  persecution,  to  Herrnhut,  where  Count  Zin- 
zendorf  then  had  gathered  the  remaining  Hussites.  David's 
father  and  mother  were  among  the  Herrnhutters  sent  by 
Zinzendorf  to  Georgia,  but  the  boy  was  left  in  Moravia,  to 
be  educated  by  the  Church  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum.  He 
was  a  small,  delicate  lad,  with  something  in  his  face  which 
attracted  the  notice  of  Zinzendorf.  He  sent  the  boy  to  a 
prosperous  community  of  the  Church  near  Utrecht,  where 
education,  as  in  godly  private  families  of  the  time,  was  given 
through  the  lash.  David  went  through  a  steady  discipline 
of  work,  beatings,  and  fastings. 

One  day  a  stranger  whom  he  helped,  when  he  was  lost 
in  the  morasses  near  the  town,  gave  him  two  pieces  of  gold, 
bidding  him  keep  them  and  not  give  them  to  the  com- 
munity. David's  conscience  however  forced  him  to  give 
one  piece  to  the  Brethren,  who  immediately  charged  him 
with  having  stolen  it,  and  publicly  punished  him  as  a  liar 
and  a  thief. 

This  was  the  stroke  too  much.  That  night  David,  with 
another  boy  named  Shober,  escaped  from  the  community 
and  set  off  to  America,  with  no  means  but  the  solitary 
piece  of  gold  which  he  had  kept.  It  paid  their  way  to 
London  ;  there  General  Oglethorpe  met  the  lads,  and,  struck 
by  David's  sensitive  face  and  singular  gravity,  procured 
them  a  free  passage  to  Savannah. 

In  the  backwoods  of  Georgia,  Zeisberger  at  last  found 
his  father  and  mother.  * 

He  was  much  impressed  by  the  sight  of  the  poor  savages 
around  him,  and  often  pondered  the  question  whether  or 
not  he  should  devote  his  life  to  the  work  of  bringing  those 
lost  heathen  to  God. 

Just  at  this  juncture  arrived  Count  Zinzendorf  He  saw 
the  lad,  and  detected  again  the  same  singular  hint  of 
pronise  on  his  face — a  prophecy  which  he  could  not  in- 
terpret. 

He  told  the  Brethren  that  the  boy  must  have  a  chance, 
and  appoip.ted  him  one  of  his  staff  to  return  with  him  to 
JNIoravia.     David  came  with  him  to  Philadelphia,  and  em- 


48  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

barked,  with  the  understanding  that  a  clear  road  to  fortune 
lay  before  him  in  Europe,  and  that  he  never  was  to  return 
to  America. 

The  ship  weighed  anchor.  Bishop  Nitschmann,  passing 
down  the  decls;,  saw  the  lad,  pale  and  haggard,  gazing  at 
the  receding  shore. 

"  Zeisberger,"  he  said,  "  is  it  possible  that  you  wish  to 
return  ? " 

"Yes." 

"  But  for  what  reason  ?  " 

**  That  I  may  learn  to  know  Christ,  and  teach  Him  to 
the  Indians,"  said  David,  finding  speech  at  last  in  his  ex- 
tremity. 

"  Then  if  that  be  your  mind,  in  God's  name  even  now 
go  back ! " 

The  ship  was  brought  to,  and  the  boy  sent  back.  After 
this  the  Moravians  regarded  him  as  Eli  did  Samuel :  he 
was  called  of  God.  His  name  was  entered  on  the  list 
of  the  Brethren  and  their  trades,  as  David  Zeisberger, 
desthiirter  Heidenbote. 

The  lad  at  once  left  the  community  and  went  to  the 
lodge  of  the  great  sachem  of  the  Mohawks,  and  there  lived 
and  worked  to  learn  thoroughly  the  habits  and  language  of 
the  Indians.  He  was  adopted  into  the  tribe  of  the  Onon- 
dagas. 

Thus  began  the  remarkable  history  of  a  work  which 
extended  over  sixty-two  years. 


XCII.      A    Noble     Resignation    to    God's     Will. 

I  Sam.  iii.  i8.      " //  is  the  Lord:  let  Him  do  what  seemeth 
Him  good." 

"  Do  you  know  this,  Master  Cameron } "  said  an  exe- 
cutioner, startling  the  old  Christian  in  his  cell,  and  showing 
something  in  a  basket.  It  was  a  fair-haired,  youthful  head, 
just  stricken  oft.  "  I  know  it,  I  know  it ;  my  son's,  my 
own  dear  son's.  It  is  the  Lord  ;  good  is  the  will  of  the 
Lord,  who  cannot  wrong  me  nor  mine,  but  has  made  good- 
ness and  mercy  follow  us  all  our  days." 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  49 

XCIII.     A   Man  of  Prayer,     i  Sam.  xv.   11.     "  He  criai 

unto  the  Lord  all  «47//," 

John  Welch,  of  Ayr,  was  pre-eminently  a  man  of  prayer. 
Whilst  minister  at  I'Lttrick  he  was  boarded  in  the  house  of 
one  named  Mitchelhill.  A  son  of  his  landlord,  who  slept 
with  Welch,  used,  to  tell,  in  after  years,  how  he  would  lay 
a  Scot's  plaid  atove  his  bedclothes,  and  would  rise  and 
cover  himself  with  it  when  he  went  to  prayer  ;  for,  from  the 
be<,n'nning  of  his  ministry,  "he  reckoned  the  day  ill-spent  if 
he  stayed  not  seven  or  ciy;ht  hours  in  prayer." 

He  would,  we  are  told,  retire  many  nights  to  the  church, 
and  spend  the  whole  night  in  prayer — praying  with  an 
audible  and  sometimes  with  a  loud  voice.  Once  his  wife, 
going  at  night  to  his  closet,  where  he  had  been  long  at 
prayer,  and  fearing  he  should  catch  cold,  heard  him  say, 
"  Lord,  wilt  Thou  not  grant  me  Scotland  ?  "  and,  after  a 
pause,  "  Enough,  Lord,  enough."  Once  he  got  such  near- 
ness to  the  Lord  in  prayer  that  he  exclaimed,  "  Hold  Thy 
hand,  Lord  ;  remember  Thy  servant  is  a  clay  vessel,  and 
can  hold  no  more." 

XCIV.       Impure     Motives    in    Religious    Work. 

I   Sam.  XV.  22.     "Hath  the  Lord  as  great  delight  in  burnt 
offerings  a?id  sacrifices  as  in  obeying  the  voice  of  the  Lord  1 " 

The  traveller  from  Rome  to  Gaeta  crosses  the  Maremma. 
He  watches  the  sun  setting  over  its  dim,  dismal,  and  yet 
majestic  fanes  ;  he  sees  a  white  mist  rising  soft,  beautiful, 
tinged  now  with  the  fair  glow  of  sunlight,  now  with  the 
paler  shades  of  moonlight — a  beautiful  mist  indeed  ;  but 
plunge  into  it,  and  the  mist  is  poison.  Just  as  fatal  are  the 
effects  of  religious  work  when  engaged  in  from  impure 
motives. 

XCV.     The   Intellect    and    the   Heart,    i  Sam.  xvi. 
7.     "  For  the  Lord  seeth  not  as  man  sceth  .•    .    .     .     the  Lord 

locketh  on  the  hea/'ti" 

On  some  Church  festival,  when  the  morning  services  were 
over,  Massillon,  the  great  preacher,  entertained  a  party  at 
dinner.  A  remark  made  by  one  of  the  guests,  that  it  was 
time  that  something  should   be  done  to  turn  the  holy  day 

E 


so  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

to  edification,  induced  Massillon  to  fetch  one  of  his  sermons 
and  read  it  to  the  company.  A  lady,  by  way  of  expressing 
admiration,  exclaimed  that  if  she  had  written  such  a 
sermon,  she  would  certainly  be  reckoned  among  the  saints, 
**  Ah,  madame  !  "  was  the  old  bishop's  reply,  "  it  is  a  long 
bridge  which  leads  from  the  intellect  to  the  heart."  "  Yes, 
indeed,"  nmttered  an  Oratorian  of  Jansenist  proclivities, 
who  happened  to  be  present ;  "  and  there  are  quite  four 
arches  of  the  bridge  already  broken  down." 

XCVI.  The  Soothing  Power  of  Music,  i  Sam. 
xvi.  23.  '■'■  So  Saul  ivas  i-efreshed,  and  was  well,  and  the  evil 
spirit  departed  from  him." 

This  remarkable  instance  of  the  power  of  music  over  the 
mind,  especially  in  soothing  its  perturbations  and  allaying 
its  disorders,  is  in  conformity  with  the  experience  of 
physicians,  and  with  various  intimations  whicli  may  be 
found  in  ancient  authors.  More  or  less  so  are  those  other 
scriptural  instances,  which  evince  the  power  of  music  over 
the  moods  of  even  the  sanest  minds,  as  in  the  case  of 
Elisha,  who  called  for  the  aid  of  a  minstrel  to  bring  his 
mind  into  the  frame  best  suited  to  receive  the  impulses  of 
the  prophetic  spirit.  One  would  almost  think,  that  there 
was  some  power  in  ancient  music,  which  has  since  been 
lost,  or  that  there  existed,  amid  the  simple  manners  of 
ancient  times,  a  susceptibility  to  the  influence  of  sweet  and 
solemn  sounds,  which  has  been  lost  in  the  multitudinous 
business  and  varied  pursuits  of  modern  existence.  But  in 
truth,  the  wonderful  effects  so  often  described  resulted 
from  the  concurrence  of  masterly  skill  in  the  minstrel  with 
a  peculiar  sensibility  to  the  influence  of  sweet  sounds  in 
the  patient.  And  that  where  this  concurrence  is  found 
it  will  still  produce  the  same  effect  as  of  old,  one  or  two 
"  modern  instances  "  may  be  cited  to  show. 

In  the  JManoires  of  the  French  Royal  Academy  of 
Sciences  for  1707  are  recorded  many  accounts  of  diseases, 
which,  having  obstinately  resisted  the  remedies  prescribed 
by  the  most  able  of  the  faculty,  at  length  yielded  to  the 
powerful  impression  of  harmony.  One  of  these  is  the 
case  of  a  person  who  was  seized  with  fever,  which  soon 
threw  him  into  a  very  violent  delirium,  almost  without  any 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  51 

interval,  accompanied  by  bitter  cries,  by  tears,  by  terrors, 
and  by  an  almost  constant  wakefulness.  On  the  third  day, 
a  hint  that  fell  from  himself  suggested  the  idea  of  trying 
the  effect  of  music.  Gradually  as  the  strain  proceeded  his 
troubled  visage  relaxed  into  a  most  serene  expression,  his 
restless  eyes  became  tranquil,  his  convulsions  ceased,  and 
the  fever  absolutely  left  him.  It  is  true,  that  when  the 
music  was  discontinued  his  symptoms  returned  ;  but,  by 
frequent  repetitions  of  the  experiment,  during  which  the 
delirium  always  ceased,  the  power  of  the  disease  was 
broken,  and  the  habits  of  a  sound  mind  re-established.  Six 
days  sufficed  to  accomplish  the  cure. 

XCVII.     The  Habit  of  Prayer.       i  Sam.  xxii.  4.     «/ 

will  call  0)1  the  Lord." 

Fei-IX  Neff,  in  speaking  on  the  subject  of  prayer,  has 
strikingly  remarked:  "When  a  pump  is  frequently  used,  but 
little  pains  are  necessary  to  obtain  water  ;  it  tlows  out  at 
the  first  stroke,  because  the  water  is  high.  But  if  the  pump 
has  not  been  used  for  a  long  time,  the  water  gets  low,  and 
when  it  is  wanted,  you  must  pump  a  great  while,  and  the 
stream  comes  only  after  great  efforts.  And  so  it  is  with 
praj'er;  if  we  are  instant  in  it  and  faithful  to  it,  every  little 
circumstance  awakens  the  disposition  to  pray,  and  desires 
and  words  are  always  ready.  But  if  we  neglect  prayer,  it 
is  difficult  for  us  to  pray,  for  the  water  in  the  well  gets 
low." 

The  thought  is  full  of  suggestions,  of  counsel,  admoni- 
tion, instruction.  TJie  Jmuian  heart  is  a  leaky  vessel ;  and 
in  a  world  like  this,  the  tendency  of  spirituality,  like  that  of 
water,  is  dozvmvard.  If  we  neglect  prayer,  little  by  little 
we  soon  lose  its  spirit ;  and  its  spirit  declining,  its  Jiabit 
is  soon  laid  aside,  or  retained  only  in  the  form  ;  and  as  the 
next  step  the  form  itself  will  soon  be  given  up,  the  soul 
becoming  prayerless,  and  the  heart  and  life  alike  forsaken 
of  God. 

XCVIII.       An    Emperor's    Shame.       i  Sam.  xxiv.  19. 

"  For  if  a  ma7i  find  his  enemy,  will  he  let  him  go  well  away  ?  " 

John  Huss,  in  spite  of  the  pledged  safe-conduct  of  the 
Emperor  Sigismund,  was  thrust  into  a  miserable  prison  cell, 


52  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

where  you  may  still  see  the  stone  to  which  he  was  chained. 
In  vain  in  the  full  council  lie  made  the  hot  blush  of  shame 
burn  on  the  cheek  of  the  emperor  by  reminding  him  of 
his  violated  word.  A  hundred  years  later  that  blush  saved 
the  life  of  Martin  Luther.  When  Charles  V.  was  urged  to 
seize  Luther  in  spite  of  his  safe-conduct,  he  replied,  "  I  do 
not  want  to  blush  like  Sigismund." 


XCIX.     No    Fear,    no    Hope.      2  Sam.  iii.  33.     "-Died 
Ab?ier  as  a  fool  dieth  ?  " 

Mr.  Robert  Owen  once  visited  a  gentleman  who  was  a 
believer.  In  walking  out  they  came  to  the  gentleman's 
family  grave  ;  Owen  addressing  him  said  :  "  There  is  one 
advantage  I  have  over  Christians,  I  am  not  afraid  to  die. 
Most  Christians  are  afraid  to  die  ;  but  if  some  of  my 
busine.ss  were  settled,  I  should  be  perfectly  willing  to  die 
at  any  moment."  "Well,"  said  his  companion,  "you  say 
you  have  no  fear  in  death  ;  have  you  any  hope  in  death  ?" 
After  a  solemn  pause  he  replied,  "No  /"  "Then,"  replied 
the  gentleman,  pointing  to  an  ox  standing  near,  "  you  are 
on  a  level  with  that  brute  ;  he  has  fed  till  he  is  satisfied, 
and  stands  in  the  shade  whisking  off  the  flies,  and  has 
neither  hope  nor  fear." 

C.     My    Trouble.      2  Sam.  xii.   19.     "Is  the  child  dead? 
And  they  said,  He  is  dead." 

"  Some  of  you  have  especial  trouble.  God  only  knows  what 
you  go  through  with.  Oh,  how  many  bereavements,  how 
many  poverties,  how  many  persecutions,  how  many  mis- 
representations !  Some  of  you  feel  like  a  poor  fisherman 
who  was  chided  one  day  because  he  kept  on  working, 
although  that  very  day  he  buried  his  child.  They  came  to 
him  and  said,  '  It  is  indecent  for  you  to  be  mending  that 
boat,  when  this  afternoon  you  buried  your  child.'  And 
the  fisherman  looked  up  and  said,  '  Sir,  it  is  very  easy  for 
you  gentlefolks  to  stay  in  the  house  with  your  handkerchief 
to  your  eyes  in  grief;  but,  sir,  ought  I  to  let  the  other  five 
children  starve  because  one  of  them  is  drowned  ?  No,  sir  ; 
we  maun  work,  we  maun  work,  though  our  hearts  beat  lik^ 
this  hammer,' " 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  53 

CI.     A    Child's    Death.     2  Sam.  xii.  23.     '' I  shall  go  to 

him,  but  he  shall  not  retiini  to  w^." 

Robert  and  IMary  Moffat,  the  famed  missionaries  of 
Southern  Africa,  returned  in  1839  to  England,  for  the 
printing  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  Sechwana  language, 
which  Moffat  had  then  completed.  On  board  ship,  before 
they  left  Table  Bay,  a  daughter  was  born.  In  a  few  hours 
the  ship  put  to  sea  ;  but  severe  weather  set  in,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  general  distress  it  became  apparent  to  the 
mother  that  one  of  her  younger  sons  was  dying.  Jamie 
had  never  overcome  an  attack  of  measles,  and  three  days 
after  the  birth  of  his  sister  he  passed  away,  at  the  age  of 
six  years.  Amidst  the  storm  he  lay  upon  his  mother's 
arm,  peacefully  talking  of  the  angels  who  should  bear  to 
the  heavenly  land  the  spirits  of  children,  and  with  the 
words,  "Oh  that  will  be  joyful,  when  we  meet  to  part  no 
more  !  "  on  his  lips,  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 


CII.  A  Father's  Lament.  2  Sam.  xviii.  33.  "  O  my  son 
Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  Absalom  I  would  God  I  had  died 
for  thee,  O  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  !  " 

A  RUMOUR  once  reached  Andrew  Fuller  that  his  wild  son 
Robert,  who  had  been  impressed  as  a  sailor  on  board  a 
man-of-war,  had  been  tried  for  desertion,  and  had  died 
under  the  infliction  of  a  stern  sentence.  The  rumour 
however  was  afterwards  proved  to  be  false.  The  father's 
words  about  this  have  condensed  into  them  all  the  agony 
of  grieved  affection,  and  seem  like  bitter  drops  of  distilled 
pain. 

"  In  former  cases  my  sorrow  found  vent  in  tears  ;  but 
now  I  can  seldom  weep.  A  kind  of  morbid  heart-sickness 
preys  upon  me  from  day  to  day.  Every  object  around  me 
reminds  me  of  him  !  Ah  !  .  .  .he  was  wicked,  and  mine 
eye  was  not  over  him  to  prevent  it ;  ,  .  .  He  was  de- 
tected and  tried,  and  condemned,  and  I  knew  it  not ;  .  .  . 
he  cried  under  his  agonies,  but  I  heard  him  not ;  .  .  . 
he  expired,  without  an  eye  to  pity  or  a  hand  to  help  him ! 
O  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son  !  would  God  I  had  died  for 
thee,  my  son  !  " 


54  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

cm.  The  Sweetest  Name.  2  Sam.  xxii.  3.  ^^ In  Him 
win  I  fnist :  He  is  my  shield,  and  the  liorri  of  my  salvation, 
my  high  totuer,  and  my  refuge,  my  Saviour^ 

The  son  of  Sir  James  Mackintosh  gives  some  account  of 
the  dying  words  of  his  father.  "  I  observed  that  at  every 
mention  of  the  name  of  Jesus  his  eyes  were  unclosed.  I 
said  to  him  at  one  time,  'Jesus  Christ  loves  you.'  He 
answered  slowly,  and  pausing  between  each  word,  'Jesus 
Christ — love — the  same  thing.'  He  uttered  these  last 
words  with  a  sweet  smile.  After  a  long  silence,  he  said, 
'I  believe.'  We  said,  in  a  voice  of  inquiry,  'In  God?' 
He  answered,  '  In  Jesus.'  He  spoke  but  once  after  this. 
Upon  our  inquiry  how  he  felt,  he  said  he  was  happy" 

CIV.     Tried   before  Trusted.     2  Sam.  xxii.  31.    ''The 
word  of  the  Lord  is  tried." 

A  NEW  steamboat  has  to  be  tried  before  passengers  and 
freight  can  be  trusted  on  board.  A  new  railroad  has  its 
trial  trips  before  it  is  thrown  open  to  the  public.  A  few 
years  ago,  at  the  opening  of  a  railroad  in  Missouri,  a  train 
of  cars  filled  with  people,  many  of  them  gentlemen  invited 
by  the  directors,  set  out  from  St.  Louis  on  a  trial  trip.  On 
swept  the  train.  The  party  were  in  high  spirits,  when  in 
an  instant  crash,  crash  !  Timbers  split,  joists  snapped, 
one  terrible  plunge,  and  down  went  the  cars  through  a 
breaking  bridge  into  the  river  below,  a  heap  of  ruins. 
That  bridge  was  trusted  before  it  had  been  tried. 

CV.  Fulfilling  his  Mission,  i  Kings  xiii.  8,  9.  "//" 
thou  7vilt  give  me  half  thine  house,  I  tvill  not  go  in  with  thee, 
neither  will  I  eat  bread  nor  drink  water  in  this  place :  for  so 
was  it  charged  me  by  the  word  of  the  Lord." 

The  parish  of  R ,  within  the  bounds  of  the  presbytery 

of  Edinburgh,  had  become  vacant,  and  a  presentation  had 
been  issued  by  the  noble  earl  in  whom  the  patronage 
was  vested  in  favour  of  an  individual  who  was  obnoxious 
to  the  people,  or,  at  least,  who  had  not  their  consent  to 
his  becoming  their  pastor  and  spiritual  instructor.  In 
default  of  this  Dr.  Erskine  strongly  opposed  his  induction 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  55 

in  tlie  Church  courts.  His  opposition  was  however  fruit- 
less ;  the  necessary  forms  were  ordered  to  begone  throuj^h, 
and  the  admission  to  take  place,  and,  with  a  refinement 
of  cruelty  not  unknown  in  those  woeful  days,  Dr.  Erskine 
himself  was  appointed  to  preside  at  the  moderating  of  the 
call.  This  he  did,  in  obedience  to  his  ecclesiastical  superiors. 
With  his  staff  in  his  hand  he  walked  from  Edinburgh  to 

R ,  a  distance  of  eight  miles,  on  the  morning  of  the 

appointed  day;  not  being  well  acquainted  with  the  place 
or  the  road,  and  immersed  in  deep  thought,  he  went  a  con- 
siderable way  beyond  the  church,  and  stop[ied  only  when 
he  thought  that  he  must  have  made  a  mistake,  and  had 
gone  farther  than  was  necessary.  Meeting  a  man  coming 
towards  him,  and  dressed  apparently  in  his  Sunday  suit, 
he  conjectured  that  he  might  be  going  to  the  church,  and 
inquired  the  road  thither.  The  man  told  the  doctor  that  he 
had  gone  a  good  bit  too  far,  but  that  he  would  conduct  him 
back  to  the  church,  as  he  was  himself  going  there.  In  the 
door  of  the  porch,  and  at  the  entrance  to  the  churchyard, 
stood  the  patron  peer  and  some  others,  who,  observing  Dr. 
Erskine  to  be  fatigued,  invited  him  to  take  some  refresh- 
ment before  entering  on  the  duties  of  the  day.  This  offer 
he  gently  declined,  and  passed  directly  into  the  church 
and  to  the  pul[)it.  He  went  through  the  services  with 
dignity  and  calmness,  and  fulfilled  his  mission.  On  re- 
turning from  the  church  he  was  again  accosted  by  the 
patron,  who  entreated  him  to  rest  a  while  and  accept  of 
some  refreshment.  His  calm  yet  firm  and  solemn  answer 
was  to  this  effect  :  "  I  feel  obliged  by  your  politeness,  my 
lord  ;  but  '  if  thou  wilt  give  me  half  thine  house,  I  will  not 
go  in  with  thee,  neither  will  I  eat  bread  nor  drink  water 
in  this  place  :  for  so  was  it  charged  me  by  the  word  of 
the  Lord.'  "  And  the  good  doctor  walked  his  way  back  to 
Edinburgh,  without  a  rest  or  even  a  halt. 

CVI.     Death    of    Children,     i    Kings  xiv.    17.     ''The 

child  died:' 

Many  a  little  child  Jesus  has  called  to  Him.  Little 
Maggie  was  very  ill  of  a  fever,  and  the  van  had  been  sent 
to  take  her  away  to  the  infirmary.  INIaggie  was  dressed 
and  ready.     "Maggie,  it's  time  for  you  to  go,"  said  her 


56  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

mother.  "  Ye  know,  mother,"  said  Maggie,  "  I'll  maybe 
no  come  back :  will  the  man  wait  till  I  sing  my  hymn  ?  " 
Even  a  hard  heart  could  not  have  refused,  and  so  the  man 
waited  while  the  little  feeble  voice  sang, — 

*'  Here  in  the  body  pent, 
Absent  from  Him  I  roam  ; 
Yet  nightly  pitch  my  moving  tent 
A  day's  march  nearer  home." 

And  then  they  carried  the  dying  child,  with  joyous  thoughts 
like  these  filling  her  young  heart,  to  the  infirmary,  whence 
the  last  stage  of  the  journey  from  this  to  the  eternal  world 
is  often  taken. 


CVII.  In  the  Hour  of  Extremity,  i  Kings  xvii.  6. 
'■'■And  the  ravens  brought  him  bread  and  flesh  in  the  mornings 
a7id  bread  a?id flesh  in  the  evening ;  and  he  drank  of  the  brook." 

In  a  Christian  home  in  Poland  great  poverty  had  come, 
and  on  the  day-week  the  man  was  obliged  to  move  out  of 
the  house  with  his  whole  family.  That  night  he  knelt, 
with  his  family,  and  prayed  to  God.  While  they  were 
kneeling  in  prayer  there  was  a  tap  on  the  window  pane. 
They  opened  the  window,  and  there  was  a  raven  that  the 
family  had  fed  and  trained,  and  it  had  in  its  bill  a  ring  all 
set  with  precious  stones,  which  was  found  out  to  be  a  ring 
belonging  to  the  royal  family.  It  was  taken  up  to  the 
king's  residence,  and  for  the  honesty  of  the  man  in  bring- 
ing it  back  he  had  a  house  given  to  him,  and  a  garden, 
and  a  farm.  Who  was  it  that  sent  the  raven  tapping 
on  the  window  ?  The  same  God  that  sent  the  raven  to 
feed  Elijah  by  the  brook  Cherith — Christ  in  the  hour  of 
extremity  ! 

CVIII.     "Standstill."     i  Kings  xvii.  1 8.      '' Call  my  sin 
to  remembrance." 

The  son  of  a  pious  man  enlisted  in  a  regiment  of  the 
guards.  His  father  accompanied  him  to  his  quarters, 
exhorted  him  to  remember  his  daily  prayers,  and  on 
parting  from  him  spoke  as  follows :  "  My  son,  if  our 
gracious  God  bring  thy  sins  to  remembrance  when  thou 
art  among  strangers,  stand  still  and  take  off  thy  hat,  for 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  57 

the  Lord  is  about  to  speak  with  thee."  The  youn<]^  man 
entered  the  barracks  with  the  best  intentions  ;  at  first  he 
was  much  ridiculed  by  his  comrades  on  account  of  his 
habit  of  prayer,  then  he  quite  left  it  off  and  forgot  all  about 
it.  The  first  time  however  that  he  mounted  guard,  and 
had  to  take  off  his  helmet  at  evening  prayer,  his  father's 
words  returned  to  his  mind  ;  he  prayed  in  very  deed,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  brought  his  sins  to  his  remembrance. 
This  was  how  the  turning-point  of  his  life  came  about, 
and  the  letter  that  he  wrote  on  the  subject  to  his  father 
occasioned  much  joy  and  thankfulness  in  his  old  home. 

CIX.  Card-Playing,  i  Kings  xviii.  21.  "And  Elijah 
came  unto  all  the  people,  and  said,  How  long  halt  ye  betiveen 
two  opinions  ?  If  the  Lord  be  God,  folloiv  Him :  but  if  Baal, 
then  follow  hifn." 

Mr.  Romaine  was  once  addressed  by  a  lady,  who  ex- 
pressed the  great  pleasure  she  had  enjoyed  under  his 
preaching,  and  added  that  she  could  comply  with  his 
requirements,  with  the  exception  of  one  thing.  "  And 
what  is  that,  madam  .-• "  asked  Mr.  Romaine.  "Cards,  sir." 
"  You  think  you  could  not  be  happy  without  them  ?"  "  No, 
sir;  I  know  I  could  not."  "Then,  madam,  they  are  your 
god,  and  they  must  save  you."  This  pointed  admonition 
led  to  serious  reflection,  and  finally  to  the  abandonment  of 
such  unworthy  pleasures. 

ex.     '♦The    Journey    is    too    Great     for     Thee." 

I  Kings  xix.  7.     "  The  jotirney  is  too  great  for  thee," 

This  text  has  been  illustrated  by  ten  thousand  men. 
Livingstone  consecrated  himself  to  African  exploration. 
He  performed  two  journeys,  but  the  third  was  too  great 
for  him.  His  health  failed.  Two  of  his  servants  deserted 
him,  and  they  took  with  them  his  medicine  chest.  "I 
never  dreamed,"  he  wrote,  "  that  I  should  lose  my  precious 
quinine."  One  of  the  last  entries  in  his  journal  was:  "I 
am  pale,  bloodless,  and  weak  from  bleeding  profusely  ever 
since  March  31st  last.  An  artery  gives  off  a  copious 
stream,  and  takes  away  my  strength  ;  oh,  how  I  long  to  be 
permitted  by  the  Over-Power  to  finish  my  work ! "     When 


58  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

he  could  work  no  longer  he  was  carried  on  a  frame  of 
wood  with  some  grass  and  a  blanket  upon  it.  And  when 
he  could  endure  to  be  carried  no  farther,  his  faithful  ser- 
vants built  him  a  little  hut,  and  in  that  rude  structure  he 
died.  He  was  a  great  traveller.  He  contributed  much 
to  our  knowledge  of  Central  Africa.  The  coloured  races 
owe  him  a  mighty  debt  of  gratitude.  He  was  one  of  the 
bravest  of  Christian  men.  But  the  journey  of  African 
exploration  was  too  great  for  him. 

CXI.      A    Martyr    at    the    Stake.      i  Kings  xix.  14. 
''Slain  Thy prpphetsr 

On  Huss  firmly  refusing  to  retract  his  opinions  unless  they 
were  proved  from  the  word  of  God  to  be  erroneous,  he 
was  at  length,  with  horrible  solemnity,  doomed  to  perish 
by  fire  as  an  obstinate  heretic.  On  July  6th,  141 5, 
sentence  was  formally  pronounced  upon  him  ;  and,  after 
being  stripped  of  his  priestly  garments,  and  subjected  to 
various  dreadful  indignities,  he  was  handed  over  to  the 
secular  arm  for  execution.  A  paper  crown,  painted  over 
with  figures  of  devils,  and  bearing  the  inscription  "  heresi- 
arch,"  was  put  upon  his  head.  "  We  thus  devote  thee  to 
the  infernal  devils ! "  the  prelates  piously  exclaimed ; 
Avhereupon  the  martyr  replied,  "  I  am  glad  to  wear  this 
crown  of  ignominy,  for  the  love  of  Him  who  wore  a  crown 
of  thorns."  He  marched  to  the  stake  with  wonderful  com- 
posure, as  if  his  heart  were  glad.  A  Roman  historian  who 
witnessed  the  scene  says  that  he  looked  like  a  man  going 
to  a  grand  banquet.  Arriving  at  the  place  of  execution, 
Huss  fell  down  on  his  knees  and  prayed  aloud.  Many  of 
the  people  who  heard  him  said  to  one  another,  "What 
this  man  has  done  before  we  know  not ;  but  now  he  has 
offered  up  most  excellent  prayers  to  God."  When  he  had 
been  tied  to  the  stake,  the  faggots,  piled  up  all  round  him, 
were  kindled  ;  and  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  John 
Huss  expired  amidst  smoke  and  flame,  with  his  last  breath 
committing  his  soul  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  had 
redeemed  him.  The  ashes  of  his  body  were  hastily  gathered 
up  by  the  executioners,  and  cast  into  the  Rhine  ;  but  a 
good  portion  of  the  earth  on  which  he  was  consumed,  con- 
taining at  least  some  of  his  remains,  was  conveyed  to  his 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  59 

native  Bolicmia.  where  to  this  chiy  he  is  licid  in  the  hii^hest 
veneration.  The  name  of  John  lluss  is  as  dear  to  the 
Bohemians  as  the  name  of  WiUiam  Tell  is  to  the  Swiss,  or 
the  names  of  WilHam  VValhice  and  Joh''  Knox  are  to  the 
people  of  Scothmd. 

CXII.      Soul  Murder.      r  Kings  xxi.  2  5.      *^  Ahab,  which 
did  St'//  /liinst://  /o  wor/z  wic/cedness  in  tlie  sig/if  of  t/ie  Lord." 

An  American  writer  says :  "  When  Charles  IX.  of  France 
was  importuned  to  kill  Coligny,  he  for  a  long  time  refused 
to  do  so  publicly  or  secretly  ;  but  at  last  he  gave  way, 
and  consented  in  these  memorable  words,  'Assassinate 
Admiral  Coligny,  but  leave  not  a  Huguenot  alive  in 
France  to  reproach  me.'  So  came  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew.  When  the  soul  resolves  to  assassinate  some 
holy  motive,  when  the  spirit  determines  to  kill,  in  the 
inner  realm,  Admiral  Coligny,  it  too  delays  for  a  while ; 
and,  when  it  gives  way,  usually  says,  'Assassinate  this 
accuser  of  mine  ;  but  leave  not  an  accusing  accomplice  of 
his  in  all  my  kingdom  alive  to  reproach  me.'  So  comes 
the  massacre  of  the  desire  to  be  holy. 

"  Emerson  quotes  the  Welsh  Triad  as  saying,  '  God 
Himself  cannot  procure  good  for  the  wicked.'  Julius 
Muller,  Dorner,  Rothe,  Schleiermacher,  no  less  than  Plato, 
Aristotle,  and  Socrates,  assert  that,  in  the  nature  of  things, 
there  can  be  no  blessedness  without  holiness.  Confucius 
said,  '  Heaven  means  principle.'  But  what  if  a  soul  per- 
manently loses  principle  .■'  Si  vis  fiigere  a  Deo,  fnge  ad 
Deicm,  is  the  Latin  proverb.  If  you  wish  to  flee  from  God, 
flee  to  Him.  The  soul  cannot  escape  from  God;  and  can 
two  walk  together  unless  they  are  agreed  .-*  Surely  there 
are  a  few  certainties  in  religion,  or  several  points  clear  to 
exact  ethical  science  in  relation  to  the  natural  conditions 
of  the  peace  of  the  soul." 

CXIII.      "Seed   Corn."      2  Kings  ii.  3.     "  T/te  sojis  of  i/ie 
prophets  that  were  at  Bet/ieL" 

The  great  importance  of  the  work  done  in  our  educational 
institutions  for  young  ministers  was  never  more  strikingly 
emphasized  than  by  the  missionary  Judson,  who  said,  as  he 


6o  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

was  approaching  Madison  University,  "If  I  had  a  thousand 
dollars,  do  you  know  what  I  would  do  with  it?"  The 
person  asked  supposed  he  would  invest  it  in  foreii,ni 
missions.  "I  would  put  it  into  such  institutions  as  that," 
he  said,  pointing  to  the  colkge  buildings.  "Planting  col- 
leges, and  filling  them  with  studious  young  men,  is  planting 
seed  corn  for  the  world." 

CXIV.  The  Chariot  of  Fire.  2  Kings  ii.  11.  '' A?id 
it  came  to  pass,  as  they  still  we/it  on,  and  talked,  that,  behold, 
there  appeared  a  chariot  of  fire ^  and  horses  of  fire,  and  parted 
them  both  asunder  I' 

Two  little  boys  were  talking  together  about  Elijah's  going 
to  heaven  in  a  chariot  of  fire. 

"  I  say,  Charlie,"  said  George,  "  but  would  not  you  be 
afraid  to  ride  on  such  a  chariot .''  " 

"  Why,  no  ;  I  shouldn't  be  afraid  if  I  knew  that  the  Lord 
was  driving." 

1  hat  was  what  David  felt  when  he  said,  "  What  time  I 
am  afraid,  I  will  trust  in  Thee." 

CXV.     A  French  Minister.     2  Kings  iv,  34.      ^^ And 

he  went  np,  and  lay  upon  the  child,  and  put  his  mouth  upon 
his  fnouth,  and  his  eyes  upon  his  eyes,  and  his  hands  upoti  his 
hands :  and  he  stretched  himself  upoti  the  child ;  and  the  flesh 
of  the  child  waxed  ivann." 

BOSSUET,  Bourdaloue,  and  Massillon  form  a  triad,  each  of 
whom  habitually  suggests  the  other  two,  so  closely  linked 
together  have  they  become  in  the  annals  of  the  Christian 
pulpit.  Of  these  three  illustrious  French  preachers,  it  is 
Massillon  who  has  become  most  familiar  among  us.  In 
1717  he  preached  what  is  known  as  the  'Petit  Careme," 
a  course  of  ten  lectures  addressed  to  the  young  king, 
then  nine  years  old.  These  lectures  had  an  immense 
reputation,  and  were  mostly  idyllic  pictures  of  the  duties  of 
good  kings  and  nobles.  When  Massillon  was  a  year  after- 
wards received  into  the  Academy,  the  Abbe  Claude  Fleury 
complimented  him  on  having  wisely  accommodated  his 
teaching  to  the  youth  of  the  king,  after  the  example  of  the 
prophet  Elisha,  who  contracted  himself  to  the  measure  of 


ULD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  6l 

the  Sluinaiiiniitc's  child,  placing  mouth  to  mouth,  eyes  to 
e}'cs,  hands  to  hands,  that  he  might  recall  the  departed 
life. 

CXVI.      An     Early     Riser.      2   Kings   vi.    15.      ''And 

7Cihen  the  sen'ant  of  the  man  of  God  was  risen  early" 

For  the  last  fifty  years  of  his  life  Mr.  Romaine  regularly 
rose  at  five,  breakfasted  at  six,  dined  at  one^  supped  at 
eight,  and  retired  at  nine.  He  took  little  or  no  wine,  and 
lived  on  the  plainest  food.  Romaine's  last  illness  attacked 
liim  on  June  6th,  1 795.  He  had  more  than  once  said  : 
"  Who  can  tell — I  cannot — how  great  the  love  was  which 
provided  a  Saviour  for  such  a  rebel  ?  What  patience,  how 
infinite!  to  spare  me  through  childhood,  through  youth, 
through  manhood,  when  every  day,  and  everything  in  the 
day,  were  calling  aloud  for  vengeance  !  " 

CXVII.      The    Conversion    of    the    Heathen.      2 

Kings  vii.  19.     "  Now,  behold,  if  the  Lord  should  make  win- 
dows in  heaven,  might  stich  a  thing  be  ?  " 

The  opposition  Carey  met  in  his  desires  to  Christianize  the 
heathen  seem  to  us  wonderful  and  incredible.  Indeed  the 
greater  portion  of  Carey's  ministerial  friends  were  them- 
selves either  opposed  or  doubtful.  Mr,  Fuller  was  so 
startled  by  the  novelty  and  the  magnitude  of  the  proposal, 
that  he  described  his  feelings  as  resembling  those  of  the 
unbelieving  Israelite,  "  If  the  Lord  should  make  windows 
in  heaven,  might  such  things  be  }  "  When  at  a  gathering 
of  ministers  in  Northampton,  Carey  suggested  as  a  topic 
for  discussion  the  duty  of  Christians  to  attempt  the  con- 
version of  the  heathen,  Mr.  Ryland,  the  father  of  Dr. 
Ryland,  sprang  to  his  feet  and  said  :  "  Young  man,  sit 
down  !  When  God  pleases  to  convert  the  heathen,  He 
will  do  it  without  your  help  or  mine  1 " 

CXVIII.     Heathen   Honesty.     2  Kings  xii.  15.      "For 
they  dealt  faithfully." 

At  one  time  Dr.  Moffat,  the  missionary  to  Africa,  wished 
to  send  supplies  and  letters  to  Dr.  Livingstone.     Unable 


62  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

to  complete  the  trip  himself,  he  committed  his  charge  to 
natives,  the  result  justifying  his  confidence  in  them. 

These  supplies  had  been  made  up  into  bundles  for 
carrying  on  men's  shoulders.  It  afterwards  proved  that 
these  men  faithfully  discharged  their  trust.  As  privileged 
persons,  carrying  the  packages  of  a  missionary,  they 
crossed  the  border  country  in  safety  and  descended  into  the 
valley  of  the  Zambesi,  where  there  were  none  but  their 
sworn  enemies  the  Makololo,  and  at  last  presented  them- 
selves on  the  south  bank  of  the  river  at  a  spot  where  they 
could  shout  across  to  an  island  in  the  river,  and  announce 
their  errand.  Small  as  their  party  was,  they  could  get  no 
one  to  approach  them,  for  treachery  was  still  suspected. 
They  laid  their  packages  on  the  bank,  delivered  their  mes- 
sage across  the  stream,  and  departed  hungry  and  tired  and 
footsore.  The  Makololo,  finding  them  really  gone,  took 
the  bundles  they  had  brought,  placed  them  on  an  island, 
and  built  a  roof  over  them  ;  and  there  they  were  when 
Livingstone  returned,  some  months  afterward,  from  his 
journey  to  St.  Paul  de  Loanda  on  the  west  coast,  thankful 
indeed  for  the  letters  and  supplies  which  reached  him  by 
this  strange  kind  of  parcel  delivery. 

CXIX.     Praying   and  Working.     2  Kings  xx.  5.     "/ 

have  heard  thy  prayer,  I  have  seen  ihy  tears." 

There  are  many  instances  on  record  of  special  answers  to 
prayer.  What  shall  we  make  of  the  instances  of  prayer  in 
such  lives  as  that  of  David  Nasmith,  or  of  the  good  men 
sketched  in  Mr.  Stevenson's  "  Praying  and  Working," 
followed  again  and  again  and  again  by  that  which  they 
had  asked  ?  The  Rauhe  Haus  at  Hamburg,  a  great 
Christian  reformatory,  has  such  a  story  as  seems  mira- 
culous— as  indeed  is  nothing  less.  Money  came  from 
unknown  sources,  as  it  was  wanted.  Step  by  step  this 
work  of  God  was  built,  extended,  and  sustained,  with  no 
exchequer  but  the  never-failing  goodness  of  the  Lord.  "  I 
believe,"  says  Wichern,  its  founder  and  head,  "that  what- 
ever Christian  household  or  person  trusts  the  Lord  utterly, 
and  allows  Him  to  be  the  only  God  and  Saviour,  although 
it  be  out  of  great  faltering  and  weakness,  that  person 
or  household  shall  never  want,  but  shall  have  all  it  wants, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  63 

even  if  it  should  obtain  it  throui^h  daily  need  and  peril." 
This  is  the  ex[)eiiciice  of  a  life  in  which  such  prayer  has 
been  habitually  put  to  the  test.  A  case  given  by  Major 
Miller,  governor  of  the  military  prison,  Aldershot — than 
whom  we  could  surely  have  no  safer  authority — is  quoted 
in  Good  Words. 

"  One  of  our  prisoners,  on  being  checked  at  drill  by  one 
of  the  warders,  wished  that  God  Almighty  would  strike  the 
warder  dumb.  The  prisoner  on  the  spot  was  struck  dumb, 
and  did  not  recover  liis  speech  for  seven  days.  During 
the  period  he  was  deprived  of  speech  he  was  strictly 
watched.  There  was  no  feigning  whatever  ;  the  man  was 
most  wretched  and  alarmed." 

CXX.  Sun-dials.  2  Kings  xx.  ii.  '■^And  Isaiah  the 
prophet  cried  icnto  tJie  Lord :  and  Be  brought  tJie  sJiadotv  ten 
degrees  bac/aoard,  by  tvliicJi  it  had  gofie  doivn  in  the  dial  oj 
Ahaz." 

Whoever  is  fond  of  travelling  through  the  villages  of  old 
England  will  notice  what  innumerable  fancies  in  various 
places  have  been  associated  with  the  course  and  flight  of 
the  hours.  Very  frequently  the  inscriptions  on  the  sun- 
dials are  scriptural,  such  as,  "  Watch,  for  ye  know  not  the 
hour,"  or,  "  Yet  a  little  while  is  the  light  with  you  :  walk 
while  ye  have  the  light."  There  is  something  very  sug- 
gestive in  the  motto  upon  a  sun-dial  over  an  old  cottage 
at  Bishopthorpe,  near  York,  "  Tempus  labile,"  slipping 
time.  Over  the  porch  of  East  Leake  church,  in  Notting- 
hamshire, are  the  words,  "  Now  is  yesterday's  to-morrow." 
It  must  have  been  in  a  spirit  of  hopeful  expectancy  that 
such  a  motto  as  that  famous  one  of  Geneva  was  chosen, 
"  Post  tenebras  lux,"  After  darkness  light,  or  that  other 
form  of  it,  "  Post  tenebras  spero  lucem,"  After  darkness  I 
hope  for  light. 

CXXI.     True  Nobility,      i  Chron.  vi.  49.     '' Moses  the 
servant  of  God." 

When  the  female  martyr  Agatha  was  upbraided  because, 
being  descended  of  an  illustrious  [parentage,  she  stooped 
to    mean   and  humble   offices  for  the  relief  of  her  fellow 


64  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

believers.  "  Our  nobility,"  she  replied,  "lies  in  this,  that  we 
are  the  servants  of  Christ."  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto 
one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  Me." 


CXXII.     Sacred    Silence,      i    Chron.  xvii.   i6.     ^^And 
David  the  king  came  a /id  sat  before  the  Lord." 

Time  spent  in  quiet  prostration  of  soul  before  the  Lord 
is  most  invigorating".  David  "sat  before  the  Lord"  ;  it  is 
a  great  thing  to  hold  these  sacred  sittings,  the  mind  being 
receptive,  like  an  open  flower  drinking  in  the  sunbeams,  or 
the  sensitive  photographic  plate  accepting  the  image  before 
it.  Quietude,  which  some  men  cannot  abide,  because  it 
reveals  their  inward  poverty,  is  as  a  palace  of  cedar  to  the 
wise,  for  along  its  hallowed  courts  the  King  in  His  beauty 
deigns  to  walk. 

"  Sacred  silence  !  thou  that  art 
Floodt^rate  of  the  deeper  heart, 
Offspring  of  a  heavenly  kind, 
Frost  o'  the  mouth,  and  thaw  o'  the  mind." 

CXXIII.  The  Best  Way  to  get  Riches.  2  Chron. 

i.  10.  "  Give  me  noiv  wisdo/n  a/id  knowledge,  that  I  may  go 
out  and  come  in  before  this  people  :  for  who  can  fudge  this  Thy 
people,  that  is  so  great  1 " 

An  old  Puritan  divine  says  "  that  the  best  and  surest  way 
to  have  any  outward  mercy  is  to  be  content  to  want  it. 
When  men's  desires  are  over-eager  after  the  world,  they 
must  have  thus  much  a  year,  and  a  house  well  furnished, 
and  wife  and  children  thus  and  thus  qualified,  or  else  they 
will  not  be  content.  God  doth  usually,  if  not  constantly, 
break  their  wills  by  denying  them,  as  one  would  cross  a 
froward  child  of  his  stubborn  humour;  or  else  puts  a  sting 
into  them,  that  a  man  had  been  as  good  he  had  been 
without  them,  as  a  man  would  give  a  thing  to  a  froppish 
child,  but  it  may  be  with  a  knock  on  his  fingers  and  a 
frown  to  boot.  The  best  way  to  get  riches  is,  out  of  doubt, 
to  set  them  lowest  in  one's  desire.  Solomon  found  it  so. 
He  did  not  ask  riches,  but  wisdom  and  ability  to  discharge 
his  great  trust  ;  but  God  was  so  pleased  with  his  prayer, 
that  He  threw  in  riches  into  the  bargain.     If  we  seek  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  65 

king-dom  of  God  and  His  rif^hteousness  in  the  first  place, 
and  leave  other  things  to  Mini,  God  will  never  be  behind- 
hand with  us.  Let  our  care  be  to  build  His  house,  and  let 
Him  alone  to  build  ours." 

CXXIV.     The  Patience  of  Unanswered  Prayer. 

2  Chron.  vi.  40.  ^^  Now,  my  God,  let,  I  beseech  Thee,  Thine 
eyes  be  open,  and  let  Thine  ears  be  aitent  unto  the  prayer  thai 
is  viade  in  this  place" 

In  a  biographical  sketch  of  Miss  Fletcher,  an  earnest 
Christian  worker,  the  following  incident  is  told.  One 
Sabbath,  at  forenoon  service,  Miss  Fletcher's  eyes  and  heart 
were  irresistibly  drawn  towards  an  old  woman,  who  was 
evidently  pinched  with  care,  and  bowed  under  some  load  of 
anxiety.  She  felt  that  she  ought  to  give  that  old  woman 
some  money,  and  mentally  resolved  to  do  so  if  the  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself  at  the  evening  service.  Arrived  at 
home,  she  found  that  her  pocket-money  consisted  of  one 
napoleon,  and  though  loath  to  part  with  the  whole  of  it, 
she  felt  she  could  neither  break  it  nor  leave  it  behind,  but 
must  take  it  with  her  to  church.  This  she  did,  half  hoping 
the  old  woman  would  not  be  among  the  worshippers. 
But  there  she  was,  with  the  mute  and  unconsciou.s,  but 
irresistible  appeal  as  plainly  written  on  her  face  as  ever. 
On  coming  out  of  church  Miss  Fletcher  somehow  found 
herself  beside  her,  and  slipped  the  gold  piece  into  the 
astonished  old  woman's  hand,  and  nan  off  without  Wditing 
for  thanks.  It  afterwards  transpired  that  the  poor  woman 
at  that  very  time  was  in  the  greatest  destitution,  and  had 
been  rolling  her  case  on  the  Lord,  and  had  left  it  with 
Him  in  confidence,  and  this  was  His  answer. 

CXXV.  Seeking  the  Lord  earnestly.  2  Chron. 
XV.  15.  '■^  They  .  .  .  sought  Him  7vith  their  tiihole  desire ; 
and  He  was  found  of  them :  and  the  Lord  gave  them  rest." 

During  a  revival  many  years  ago  in  Gla'^gow  it  was 
customary  to  hold  meetings  every  night  for  prayer  and 
conversation  with  inquirers  after  peace.  One  evening  a 
Sunday-school  teacher  came  to  make  known  her  case. 
She  had  been  in  distress  for  weeks.  In  her  trouble  she 
had  tried  to  find  relief  by  change  of  air  and  scenery,  but 

F 


66  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

soon  found  that  this  was  no  medicine  for  a  soul  diseased  ; 
and  coniin<;  back  she  shut  herself  up  in  a  room  to  plead  for 
mercy.  Her  besetting  temptation  was  a  fear  lest  any  one 
should  discover  her  in  the  act  of  prayer  ;  but  after  shutting 
herself  up  to  pray  in  silence,  her  feelings  became  so  excited 
that  she  literally  screamed,  and  her  prayer  was  heard  in 
the  house.  At  length  she  poured  out  her  soul  in  this 
pathetic  strain  :  "  O  Jesus,  I  am  told  Thou  art  the  burden- 
bearer.  Here  is  my  burden;  here  I  lay  it.  I  will  not  lift 
it;  I  will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it :  do  with  it  what 
Thou  wilt."  From  that  hour  she  rejoiced  in  Christ  her 
Saviour.  At  another  meeting  one  little  girl,  who  had 
found  peace  to  her  own  soul,  was  heard  counselling  another 
who  was  still  in  darkness,  "I  say,  lassie,  do  as  I  did:  grip 
a  promise,  and  hold  on  to  it." 

CXXVI.  The  Widow's  Son.  2  Chron.  xx.  21.  ''He 
appointed  singers  unto  the  Lord,  and  that  should  praise  the 
beauty  of  holiness." 

One  of  Queen  Victoria's  chaplains  records  the  following 
story  :  "  When  I  was  in  the  island  of  Malta  I  heard  a 
beautiful  old  legend,  of  about  one  thousand  years  ago,  of  a 
monastery  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  where  it  enters  the 
Lake  of  Geneva.  Into  that  monastery  there  entered  a  boy 
who  was  'the  only  son  of  his  mother,  and  she  was  a 
widow.'  It  was  not  with  her  desire,  but  not  without  her 
consent ;  and  it  became  her  consolation,  morning  and 
evening,  to  go  outside  the  monastery  walls,  and,  standing 
under  the  windows  of  the  chapel,  hear  her  boy's  voice 
singing  in  the  choir  ;  and  day  by  day  this  filled  her  heart 
with  gladness.  But  one  day  she  went,  and  could  not  hear 
it  ;  and  at  last  she  demanded  of  the  porter  at  the  gate  the 
reason,  and  was  told  that  her  boy  was  dead.  So  she 
thought,  '  My  last  hope  in  life  is  gone.'  At  length,  taking 
heart,  she  prayed  that  if  it  were  possible  she  might  hear 
her  boy's  voice  singing  in  paradise  ;  and  the  legend  says 
that  her  prayer  was  granted." 

CXXVII.       Humility.      2  Chron.  xxxiv.  27.       ''Because 

thine  heart  7C'as  tender,  and  thou  didst  humble  thyself  before  God" 

MOLINOS,  the  Ouietist,  in  his  book,  "The  Spiritual  Guide,*' 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  67 

thus  writes  :  "  Encourage  thyself  to  be  humble,  embracing 
tribulations  as  instruments  of  thy  good  ;  rejoice  in  con- 
tempt, and  desire  that  God  may  be  thy  holy  refuge, 
comfort,  and  protection.  None,  let  him  be  never  so  great 
in  this  world,  can  be  greater  than  he  that  is  in  the  eye 
and  favour  of  God  ;  and  therefore  the  truly  humble  man 
despises  whatever  there  is  in  the  world,  even  to  himself, 
and  puts  his  trust  and  repose  in  God. 

"  The  truly  humble  man  finds  God  in  all  things,  so  that 
whatever  contempt,  injury,  or  affront  comes  to  him  by 
means  of  creatures,  he  receives  it  with  great  peace  and 
quiet  internal,  as  sent  from  the  Divine  hand,  and  greatly 
loves  the  instrument  with  which  the  Lord  tries  him." 


CXXVIII.     Social   Intercourse.     Ezra  vi.  22.     '^  The 

Lord  had  made  them  joyful." 

Dr.  Robert  Hall,  the  distinguished  preacher,  during  the 
last  years  of  his  life  at  Bristol  was  in  the  habit  of  spending 
some  evenings  each  week  in  social  intercourse  with  his 
people.  On  these  occasions  some  of  the  members  of  his 
own  family  occasionally  accompanied  him  ;  and  if  it  did 
not  happen  that  the  conversation  was  particularly  lively, 
these  last  were  apt  to  complain  that  the  evening  had  been 
dull.  To  this  Dr.  Hall  would  reply:  "I  don't  think  so.  It 
was  very  pleasant.     I  enjoyed  it.     I  enjoy  everything." 

CXXIX.     Growing  Love    for  the    Word  of   God. 

Ezra  vii.  6.    ^^  And  he  was  a  ready  scribe  in  the  law  of  Moses; 
which  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  had  given." 

The  following  little  anecdote  of  Dr.  Kennicott,  who  lived 
at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  strikingly  proves  how 
much  the  love  of  the  sacred  volume  grows  with  its 
perusal.  During  the  time  that  he  was  employed  on  his 
Polyglot  Bible  it  was  his  wife's  constant  office,  in  their 
daily  airings,  to  read  to  Dr.  Kennicott  those  different 
portions  of  Scrij)ture  to  which  his  immediate  attention 
was  called.  When  preparing  for  their  ride,  the  day  after 
this  great  work  was  completed,  upon  her  asking  what 
book  she  should  wtize/  take,  "  Oh !"  exclaimed  he,  "let  us 
begin  the  Bible. ' 


68  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CXXX.  "More  Light,  Lord."  Ezra  ix.  8.  ''That 
our  God  may  lightefi  our  eyes,  and  give  us  a  little  reviving  in 
our  bondage." 

Prayer  supplies  a  leverage  for  the  uplifting  of  ponderous 
truths.  One  marvels  how  the  stones  of  Stonehenge  could 
have  been  set  in  their  places  ;  it  is  even  more  to  be  in- 
quired after  whence  some  men  obtained  such  admirable 
knowledge  of  mysterious  doctrines :  was  not  prayer  the 
potent  machinery  which  wrought  the  wonder?  Waiting 
upon  God  often  turns  darkness  into  light.  Persevering 
inquiry  at  the  sacred  oracle  uplifts  the  veil,  and  gives  grace 
to  look  into  the  deep  things  of  God.  A  certain  Puritan 
divine  at  a  debate  was  observed  frequently  to  write  upon 
the  paper  before  him  ;  upon  others  curiously  seeking  to 
read  his  notes,  they  found  nothing  upon  the  page  but  the 
words,  "  More  light,  Lord,"  "  More  light,  Lord,"  repeated 
scores  of  times  :  a  most  suitable  prayer  for  the  student  of 
the  word. 

CXXXI.  Washington  at  Prayer.  Neh.  i.  6.  ''Lei 
Thine  ear  tioiv  be  attentive,  and  Thine  eyes  open,  that  Thou 
may  est  hear  the  prayer  of  Thy  servant T 

A  GENTLEMAN  narrates  the  following : 

"  I  received  the  following  anecdote  of  Washington,  about 
fifty  years  ago,  from  the  farmer  referred  to  in  the  narrative. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  who,  from 
their  peaceable  habits,  were  lukewarm  or  opposed  to  the 
War  of  Independence.  While  the  army  lay  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  White  Plains,  a  farmer,  whose  dwelling  was 
near  the  camp,  one  morning  at  sunrise,  while  passing  a 
clump  of  brush,  heard  a  moaning  noise.  Thinking  his  ox 
or  his  ass  had  fallen  into  a  pit,  he,  on  approaching  the  spot, 
heard  the  voice  of  a  human  being  engaged  in  prayer.  He 
hid  in  the  thicket,  and  listened,  resolved  to  see  the  speaker. 
Having  finished  his  aspirations  to  heaven,  this  man  of  God 
came  forth  from  his  hiding-place.  It  was  George  Wash- 
ington. When  the  farmer  entered  his  dwelLng,  he  said  to 
his  wife  :  '  Martha,  we  must  not  oppose  this  movement  any 
more.  This  work  is  from  the  Lord.  I  In  ard  the  man 
George  Washington  send  to  heaven  such  prayers  for  the 
cause   and   the  country,  and  I   know  they  will   be   heard.* 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTj^S.  69 

Thus  W'ashinfj^ton  rose  with  the  sun  and  prayed  for  his 
country ;  fouglit  for  it  by  day,  and  watched  for  it  by 
night." 

We  would  add  to  this,  that  whilst  a  student  at  Princeton 
we  frequently  heard  a  similar  testimony  from  a  venerable 
old  man  in  that  vicinity.  He  stated  that  he  belonged 
for  several  months  to  Washington's  bodyguard,  and  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  stand  guard  from  two  until  five  o'clock 
each  morning,  and  that  it  was  invariably  the  general's 
custom  to  rise  at  four  o'clock,  and  read  the  word  of  God 
and  kneel  down  and  pray  in  an  audible  voice  for  several 
minutes,  after  which  he  commenced  the  business  of  the 
day.  He  stated  moreover  that  he  uniformly  reprimanded 
all  profane  swearing  in  those  under  his  authority.  The 
memory  of  the  piety  of  such  a  man  should  be  cherished 
as  a  rich  legacy  to  the  nation  of  which  he  was  the  father. 

CXXXII.  Found  Off  Guard.  Neh.  iv.  9.  ''Never- 
theless we  made  our  prayer  unto  our  God,  and  set  a  watch 
against  them  day  and  nighty  because  of  them." 

The  following  illustration  from  Roman  history  is  sug- 
gestive. Machaerus  was  a  fortress  too  impregnable  to  be 
taken  by  all  the  prowess  of  Rome.  Among  its  defenders 
was  a  young  man,  whose  strong  arm  had  often  scattered 
the  assailants,  and  kept  them  back  till  his  compatriots  had 
regained  their  refuge  after  many  a  successful  sally  ;  but  on 
one  occasion  he  dallied  just  outside  the  gate.  An  unseen 
foe,  of  great  strength,  who  had  been  lying  in  wait  for  such 
an  opportunity,  grasped  him  in  his  arms  and  bore  him  off  to 
the  Roman  camp.  There  he  was  first  mercilessly  and  igno- 
miniously  scourged,  full  in  the  view  of  those  by  whose  side, 
but  an  hour  before,  he  had  been  doing  stern  battle  against 
the  enemies  of  his  country.  Then  a  cross  was  brought 
forward,  and  preparations  made  to  nail  him  to  it.  This 
was  more  than  the  defenders  of  the  fortress  could  bear  to 
witness.  They  inquired  whether  no  ransom  could  avail  to 
save  their  young  hero's  life.  No  ;  nothing  short  of  the 
surrender  of  their  place  of  impregnable  strength,  in  defence 
of  which  his  and  their  blond  had  been  shed  together.  The 
sacrifice  was  made,  and  tin.  conditions  honourably  observed 
by  the  Romans.      But  wliat  was  the  life-long  feeling  of 


70  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

the  young  Eleazar  ?  All  his  patriot  spirit  crushed,  and  a 
sense  of  sliame  ever  burning  on  his  cheek  tliat  no  tears  of 
repentance  could  ever  cool.  All  this  from  one  moment's 
imprudence.     Found  off  guard  did  it  all. 

CXXXIII.     The  Bible  in  Iceland.     Neh.  viii.  8.    ''So 
they  read  in  the  book,  hi  the  hnv  of  God  distinctly ^ 

Dr.  Ebenezer  Henderson  was  sent  to  Iceland  by  the 
Bible  Society  to  distribute  the  Icelandic  Scriptures  amongst 
the  inhabitants.  It  was  found  by  Henderson  that  there 
was  a  famine  of  the  word  of  God  in  the  island,  often  only 
one  copy  of  the  Scriptures  in  a  whole  parish. 

During  the  course  of  his  first  and  his  two  subsequent 
journeys,  he  disposed,  or  arranged  for  the  disposal,  by 
gratuitous  distribution  or  by  purchase,  of  4,055  Bibles,  and 
6,634  New  Testaments,  and  thousands  of  tracts,  with  which 
the  Icelanders  might  beguile  their  long  winter  evenings 
more  profitably  than  with  their  national  sagas  and  oft- 
reiterated  traditional  tales.  The  rapture  with  which  his 
gift  of  a  New  Testament  was  frequently  hailed  may  be 
gathered  from  such  an  incident  as  the  following : 

He  had  sent,  as  was  his  custom,  a  notice  round  the 
neighbourhood  where  he  travelled  of  the  object  of  his 
journey.  In  response,  a  young  man,  amongst  others,  had 
been  despatched  by  his  poor  and  aged  parents  to  learn 
the  truth  of  the  message  they  had  heard.  On  receiving 
a  Testament,  it  was  hardly  possible  for  him  to  contain  his 
joy.  As  a  number  of  the  people  had  at  the  time  collected 
around  the  door  of  the  tent,  he  caused  the  young  man  to 
read  the  third  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  He  had 
scarcely  begun  when  the  people  all  sat  down  or  knelt  on 
the  grass,  and  listened  with  the  most  devout  attention. 
As  he  proceeded,  the  tears  began  to  trickle  down  their 
cheeks,  and  they  were  all  much  affected.  The  scene  was 
doubtless  as  new  to  them  as  it  was  to  Henderson  ;  and 
on  his  remarking,  after  the  young  man  was  done,  what 
important  instructions  were  contained  in  the  Scripture  that 
had  been  read,  they  all  gave  their  assent,  adding,  with  a 
sigh,  that  these  truths  were  too  little  attended  to.  The 
landlady  especially  seemed  deeply  impressed  with  the 
truths  she  had   heard,  and  remained  some  time  after  the 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  71 

others  were  c^onc,  to'^ethcr  with  an  aged  female,  who  every 
now  and  then  broke  out  into  exclamations  of  praise  to 
God  for  liaving  sent  "His  clear  and  pure  word"  among 
them.  "  It  is  impossible,"  adds  Henderson,  "  for  me  to 
describe  the  pleasure  I  felt  on  this  occasion.  I  forgot  all 
the  fatigues  of  travelling  over  the  mountains,  and  indeed, 
to  enjoy  another  such  evening,  I  could  travel  twice  the 
distance.  I  bless  God  for  having  counted  me  worthy  to 
be  employed  in  this  ministry,  to  dispense  His  holy  word 
among  a  people  prepared  by  Him  for  its  reception,  and 
to  whom,  by  the  blessing  of  His  Spirit,  it  shall  prove  of 
everlasting  benefit." 


CXXXIV.  God's  Mercies  to  the  Worst  of  Re- 
penting Sinners.  Neh.  ix.  17.  "^  God  ready  to 
pardon." 

A  STORY  is  told  concerning  a  bold  rebel  that  had  made 
a  great  party  against  one  of  the  Roman  emperors.  A 
proclamation  was  therefore  sent  abroad,  that  whosoever 
could  bring  in  the  rebel,  dead  or  alive,  he  should  have  a 
great  sum  of  money  for  his  reward.  The  outlaw,  hearing 
of  it,  comes,  and,  presenting  himself  before  the  emperor, 
demands  the  sum  of  money  proposed.  The  emperor  be- 
thinks himself  that  if  he  should  put  him  to  death,  the 
world  would  be  ready  to  say  that  he  did  it  to  save  his 
money  ;  and  so  he  freely  pardons  the  rebel,  and  gives  him 
the  money.  Here  now  was  light  in  a  dark  lantern,  mercy 
in  a  very  heathen.  And  shall  such  a  one  do  thus  that 
had  but  a  drop  of  mercy  and  compassion  in  him,  and  will 
not  Christ  do  much  more  that  hath  all  fulness  of  grace 
and  mercy  in  Himself  .-^  Surely  His  bowels  yearn  to  the 
worst  of  sinners  repenting  ;  let  them  but  come  in,  and 
they  shall  find  Him  ready  to  pardon,  yea,  One  that  is 
altogether  made  up  of  pardoning  mercies. 

CXXXV.      The  Pithiest  Grace,     Neh.  xii.  31.     '*Tu-o 
great  companies  0/  i/iein  that  gave  i/ianks." 

LUTIIER,  Melanchthon,  and  Hugenhagen  were  close  friends. 
One  afternoon  the  three  friends  had  supper  with  Came- 
rarius,  and  it  occurred  to  Luther  to  ask  who  could  furnish 


72  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

the  briefest  and  pithiest  "grace."  His  own  was  '^Doniinui 
Jesus,  Sit  potiLS  et  esiis,  "  May  tlie  Lord  Jesus  be  our  drink 
and  meat "  ;  and  it  must  have  been  accepted  as  both  short 
and  suggestive.  Nothing  can  do  justice  to  Bugenhagen's 
but  his  bluff  Pomeranian  :  Dit  tuid  Dat,  Drocken  tind  Natt, 
gesegne  tins  Gad,  "  This  and  that,  dry  or  wet,  bless  us, 
God."  Melanchthon's  was  briefest,  and  surely  pithiest  and 
profoundest  of  all:  Beiiedictns  benedicat,  "May  the  blessed 
One  give  His  blessing";  and  the  sententious  benediction  is 
still  familiar  in  many  a  college  hall. 

CXXXVI.        Delusiveness     of      Earthly     Glory. 
EsTH.  V.  13.      '■''Yet  all  this  availeth  me  nothing." 

This  is  how  Wellington  wrote  about  the  great  victory  at 
Waterloo  :  "  I  cannot  express  the  regret  and  sorrow  with 
which  I  contemplate  the  heavy  loss  I  have  sustained. 
Believe  me,  nothing  except  a  battle  lost  is  so  terrible  as 
a  battle  won.  The  glory  arising  from  such  actions  is  no 
consolation  to  me,  and  I  cannot  suggest  it  has  any  con- 
solation to  you." 

CXXXVII.     Card-playing.     Job  i.  i.     ''One  that  feared 

God,  and  eschetved  evil.'" 

Thomas  Scott,  rector  of  Aston  Sandford,  Buckingham- 
shire, was  in  youth  exceedingly  fond  of  card-playing  ;  and 
after  he  became  a  clergyman  he  occasionally  joined  in  a 
game,  from  an  idea  that  too  great  preciseness  might  pre- 
judice his  neighbours,  and  being  of  opinion  that  there  was 
no  harm  in  the  practice.  He  says  however  that  he  felt  it 
a  very  awkward  transition  to  remove  the  card-table,  and 
introduce  the  Bible  and  family  worship.  But  his  fetters 
were  completely  broken  in  the  following  manner.  Being 
on  a  visit  to  one  of  his  parishioners,  a  person  to  whom  his 
ministry  had  been  useful,  she  said  to  him  :  "  I  have  some- 
thing which  I  wish  to  say  to  you,  but  I  am  afraid  you  will 
be  offended.  You  know  A.  B.  ;  he  has  lately  appeared 
attentive  to  religion,  and  has  spoken  to  me  concerning  the 
sacrament ;  but  last  night  he,  with  some  others,  met  to 
keep  Christmas,  and  they  played  at  cards,  drank  too  much, 
and   in    the   end    quarrelled    and   raised    a  riot ;   and    on 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  73 

remonstrating  with  him  on  his  conduct,  his  answer  was, 
'There  is  no  harm  in  cards;  Mr.  Scott  plays  at  cards,'" 
This  smote  the  minister  to  liis  heart,  and  fixed  his  resolu- 
tion never  to  play  at  cards  again. 

CXXXVIII.  A  Singular  Dream.  Job  i.  6.  ''Now there 
was  a  day  when  the  sojis  of  God  came  to  prese?2t  themselves 
be/ore  the  Lord,  and  Satan  came  also  among  them." 

John  Huss  once  had  a  singular  dream.  He  thought  that 
the  powers  of  evil  thronged  his  chapel  of  Bethlehem  to 
obliterate  the  pictures  of  Jesus  upon  the  walls.  But  angels 
of  light  on  the  other  side  with  swift  hands  repainted  them 
in  colours  richer,  and  in  more  entrancing  beauty.  Such  arc 
the  powers  that  contend  in  the  place  of  our  assemblies.  But 
fairer,  tenderer,  stronger  shall  the  influence  of  Jesus  grow 
under  angel  hands.  The  saints  witness  its  triumphs.  The 
faithful  ministry  paints  Emmanuel  with  impassioned  force 
and  many  a  loving  repetition,  till  every  stone  and  beam 
seem  eloquent  of  His  story,  and  the  whole  place  a  monu- 
ment to  His  incomparable  name. 

CXXXIX.      Resignation   to  God's  Will.    Job  i.  21. 

"The  Lord  gave,  atid  the  Lord  hath  taken  away;  blessed  be  the 
name  of  the  Lord." 

Rabbi  Meir  was  from  home,  and  during  his  absence  his 
two  sons  died.  His  wife  laid  them  upon  the  bed,  and 
spread  a  white  covering  over  their  bodies.  On  her  hus- 
band's return  she  thus  addressed  him  :  "  Rabbi,  I  would 
fain  ask  thee  one  question.  A  few  days  ago  a  person 
entrusted  some  jewels  to  my  custody,  and  now  he  demands 
them  back  again  ;  should  I  give  him  them  ?  "  "  This  is  a 
question,"  said  Rabbi  Meir,  "  which  you  should  not  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  ask.  Wouldest  thou  hesitate  or  be 
I'eluctant  to  restore  to  every  one  his  own?"  "  No,"  she 
replied;  "but  yet  I  thought  it  best  not  to  restore  them 
without  acquainting  you  therewith."  She  then  led  him  to 
the  bedside,  and  took  off  the  covering  from  the  bodies. 
"  Ah !  my  sons,  the  light  of  mine  eyes ;  I  was  your 
father,  but  you  were  my  teachers."  The  mother  too  wept 
bitterly.     At  length  she  said,  "  Rabbi,  we   must   not   be 


74  OLD  TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

reluctant  to  restore  that  which  was  entrusted  to  our  keep- 
ing. See,  the  Lord  gave,  the  Lord  has  taken  away  ;  and 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord."  "  Blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord,"  echoed  Rabbi  Meir ;  "and  blessed  be  His 
name  for  thy  sake  too !" 

CXL.     Resignation.     Job  i.   21.      '■^  The  Lord  gave,  and 

the  Lofd  hath  taken  aivay  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord^ 

In  a  beautiful  letter  of  resignation,  Scott,  the  famous  com- 
mentator, thus  writes  of  the  death  of  his  youngest  boy  : 

"  I  have  to  inform  you  that  it  has  pleased  the  Lord  who 
gave  also  to  take  away  from  us  our  youngest  boy.  your 
husband's  godson,  and  thereby  to  discharge  both  him  and 
us  from  our  trust.  After  a  lingering  and  wasting  disorder, 
he  was  released  from  this  world  of  sin  and  sorrow,  and  I 
doubt  not  gained  the  blessed  assembly  above,  to  unite  in 
their  song  of  praise  to  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
to  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  and  hath  redeemed  them 
to  God  with  His  blood.  He  died  on  September  25th. 
Nature  will  heave  the  anxious  sigh,  but  faith  looks  within 
the  veil,  beholds  the  happy  deliverance,  approves,  and 
rejoices  ;  and  I  trust  we  both  are  enabled  to  say  from  our 
hearts,  '  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away  ; 
blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.'  " 

CXLI.  Going  where  All  Problems  will  be 
Solved.  Job  V.  9.  '■'■Which  doeth  great  things  and  un- 
searchable; marvellous  things  witlioiit  number ^ 

When  Sir  David  Brewster  lay  on  his  death-bed,  he  was 
attended  by  his  friend.  Sir  James  Young  Simpson,  a  man 
of  kindred  genius  and  of  kindred  Christian  hopes.  "  The 
like  of  this  I  never  saw,"  Sir  James  Simpson  said  to  Mr. 
Cousin  after  he  had  left  the  dying  chamber.  "There  is 
Sir  David  resting  like  a  little  child  upon  Jesus,  and  speak- 
ing as  if  in  a  few  hours  he  will  get  all  his  problems  solved 
for  him."  For  in  that  supreme  hour  of  dawning  immor- 
tality his  past  studies  were  all  associated  with  the  name 
and  person  of  the  Redeemer.  "  I  shall  see  Jesus,"  he  said, 
"and  that  will  be  grand.  I  shall  see  Him  who  made  the 
worlds,"  with    allusion  to  those  wonderful  verses   in    the 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  75 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which  had  formed  the  subject  of 
the  last  sermon  he  had  heard  a  few  weeks  before.  Thus 
tracing  all  to  tiie  Creator  and  Redeemer,  he  felt  no  incon- 
gruity, even  in  these  hours,  in  describing  to  Sir  James 
Simpson  some  beautiful  phenomena  in  his  favourite  science. 
Reference  was  made  to  the  privilege  he  had  enjoyed  in 
throwing  light  upon  "  the  great  and  marvellous  works  of 
God."  "  Yes,"  he  said  ;  "  I  found  them  to  be  great  and 
marvellous,  and  I  felt  them  to  be  His." 

CXLII.  Importunate  Prayer.  Job  vi.  8.  "-Oh  that  I 
might  have  my  request ;  and  that  God  would  grant  me  the 
thing  that  I  long  fori " 

The  following  answers  to  prayer  are  a  warning  to  suppli- 
ants who  utter  requests  which  they  feel  mnst  be  answered, 
without  any  thought  as  to  whether  it  be  best  in  God's  sight 
or  not. 

A  child  was  very  ill,  and  his  father  felt  that  he  could  not 
give  him  up.  While  others  watched  he  prayed,  and  with 
such  insistence  that  he  recorded,  "About  six  o'clock  my 
anxiety  was  in  a  measure  relieved,  and  in  going  to  the 
sick  room  I  found  that  the  boy  had  fallen  into  a  sleep,  and 
from  that  hour  he  grew  better."  And  yet,  looking  back 
after  the  lapse  of  years,  it  had  been  better  and  happier  for 
parents  and  child,  for  others  also,  in  later  years,  if  the  short 
life  had  then  ended. 

Again  comes  the  history  of  a  similar  case,  and  one  of 
the  parents  recorded, "  Saved  in  answer  to  importunate 
prayer."  The  life  was  saved,  but  the  nature  seemed  to  be 
changed,  and  the  boy  grew  to  manhood  a  curse,  a  sorrow, 
and  a  burden  to  those  most  nearly  connected  with  him. 
And  yet  he  was  the  child  of  Christian  parents,  and  was 
brought  up  as  a  Christian  child. 

CXLIII.     Penalty  of  Reading  the  Bible.     Job  xiii. 
15.     "  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him." 

In  his  "  History  of  the  Dutch  Republic,"  Mr.  Motley  tells 
us  of  one  Titelmann,  a  blood-red  persecutor  of  the  Nether- 
lands. Upon  any  pretext  would  he  put  to  death  man, 
woman,  or  child. 

There  was   a  poor  schoolmaster,  Geleyn  de  Muler,  of 


76  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Oudennrde.  He  had  been  suspected  of  Bible  reading. 
Titelmann  found  him  and  his  wife  and  four  children,  and 
told  him  that  death  by  fire  was  his  fate  if  he  did  not 
recant. 

"  Will  you  give  me  a  trial  ?  "  said  Muler. 

"  You  are  my  prisoner,  and  are  to  answer  me  and  none 
other,"  was  the  reply.  Some  questions  were  asked  by 
Titelmann,  and  then  Muler  was  demanded  to  recant.  He 
was  for  some  moments  speechless. 

"  Do  you  not  love  your  wife  and  children  .'"' 

"  God  knows,"  said  the  schoolmaster,  "  that  were  the 
heavens  a  pearl,  and  the  earth  a  globe  of  gold,  and  were  I 
the  owner  of  all,  most  cheerfully  would  I  give  them  all  to 
live  with  my  family,  even  though  our  fare  be  only  bread 
and  water." 

It  was  enough,  Muler  was  strangled,  and  his  body 
burned.  Such  faith  in  God,  how  much  is  it  needed  in 
this  world ! 

CXLIV.      Dying  Words   of    an  Unbeliever.     Job 

xiv.  14.     '"''If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  V 

The  dying  words  of  the  late  Harriet  Martineau  were :  "  I 
have  no  reason  to  believe  in  another  world.  I  have  had 
enough  of  life  in  one,  and  can  see  no  good  reason  why 
Harriet  Martineau  should  be  perpetuated."  What  gloom 
and  sadness!  Now  listen  to  St.  Paul :  "I  have  fought  a 
good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith  ;  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall 
give  me  at  that  day."  Who,  in  the  light  of  such  expe- 
riences, can  refrain  from  exclaiming,  "  Let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  "  ? 

CXLV.  The  Tomb  Forgets  No  One.  Job  xvi.  22. 
"  When  a  fetv  years  are  come,  then  I  shall  go  the  way  luhence  1 
shall  not  retur?i." 

Victor  Hugo,  when  in  the  depth  of  severe  affliction — the 
loss  of  his  two  sons — wrote  the  following  lines  : 

"  Patience.  They  have  but  gone  before.  It  is  just  that 
the  evening  should  come  for  us  all.  It  is  just  that  all 
should  go  up,  one  after  the  other,  to  receive  their  pay 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  77 

The   exempts  are  such   only  in  appearance.      The  tomb 
forjiets  no  one." 


CXLVI.  True  Wisdom.  Job  xxviii.  28.  "Behold,  the 
fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom  ;  and  to  depart  from  evil  is 
understanding. " 

We  are  told  in  history  how  Edmund  Rich,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  found  his  love  of  learninir  at  Oxford  HI-inginCT 
its  troubles.  "  His  Old  Testament  frowned  down  upon 
a  love  of  secular  Icarnin;^,  from  which  Edmund  found  it 
hard  to  wean  himself."  At  last  in  a  dream  the  form  of 
his  dead  mother  floated  into  the  room  where  the  teacher 
stood  amidst  his  mathematical  diagrams.  "  What  are 
these  .'' "  she  seemed  to  say  ;  and  seizing  Edmund's  right 
hand,  she  drew  on  the  palm  three  circles  interlaced,  each 
of  which  bore  the  name  of  one  of  the  Persons  of  the  holy 
Trinity.  "  Be  these  thy  diagrams  henceforth,  my  son,"  she 
cried  ;  and  her  figure  faded  away.  And  so  Edmund  Rich 
learned  to  put  first  things  first. 

CXLVII.      Conscience   a    Gnawing    Worm.     Job 

xxxiv.  18.     "/i'  it  ft  to  say  to  a  king.  Thou  art  wicked?  and 
to  princes,  Ye  a?-e  ungodly  ?  " 

Hugh  Latimer  was  very  outspoken  to  King  Henry  VHI., 
feeling  that  he  must  tell  him  his  duty.  "  You  that  be 
of  the  court,  and  especially  ye  sworn  chaplains,"  he  said 
long  afterwards,  "  beware  of  a  lesson  that  a  great  man 
taught  me  at  my  first  coming  to  court.  He  told  me  for 
good  will  ;  he  thought  it  well.  He  said  to  me, '  You  must 
beware,  howsoever  ye  do,  that  ye  contrary  not  the  king  ; 
let  him  have  his  sayings  ;  follow  him  ;  go  with  him.' 
Marry  1  out  upon  such  counsel !  Shall  I  say  as  he  says  ? 
Say  your  consciejice,  or  else  what  a  worm  shall  ye  feel  gnaw- 
ing !  What  a  remorse  of  conscience  shall  ye  have  when  ye 
remember  how  ye  have  slacked  your  duty  1  Yet  a  prince 
must  be  turned  not  violently,  he  must  be  won  by  a  little 
and  a  little.  He  must  have  his  duty  told  him,  but  with 
humbleness,  with  request  of  pardon,  or  else  it  were  a 
dangerous  thing." 


78  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CXLVIII.     Dr.  Ryland  and  his  Hymn.    Job  xxxv.  lo 

"  Where  is  God  my  Maker,  who  giveth  songs  in  the  night  f  " 

Dr.  Ryland  was  the  author  of  that  beautiful  hymn,  which 
he  wrote  under  singular  circumstances  : 

"  O  Lord,  I  would  delight  in  Thee, 

And  on  Thy  care  depend  ; 

To  Thee  in  every  trouble  flee, 

My  best,  my  only  Friend." 

He  was  at  Bristol  Academy,  engaged  to  be  married  to  a 
young  lady  whom  he  fondly  loved.  She  was  taken  with 
a  dangerous  sickness,  from  which  it  was  feared  she  would 
not  recover.  Filled  with  anguish,  he  called  to  inquire 
about  her,  and  was  told  by  the  servant  if  he  would  call  in 
half  an  hour  he  would  hear  the  opinion  of  the  doctors, 
wlio  were  then  holding  a  consultation  on  the  case.  He 
retired  to  an  empty  house,  then  under  repair,  sat  down  on 
a  large  stone,  and  taking  a  piece  of  slate  wrote  thereon 
that  beautiful  hymn,  which  has  been  the  comfort  of  thou- 
sands of  the  tried  children  of  God  : 

"  When  all  created  streams  are  dried. 
Thy  fulness  is  the  same  : 
May  I  with  this  be  satisfied, 
And  glory  in  Thy  name  ! 

"  No  good  in  creatures  can  be  found 
But  may  be  found  in  Thee  ; 
I  must  have  all  things,  and  abound, 
While  God  is  God  to  me." 

He  called,  and  received  a  favourable  report.  The  lady 
recovered,  they  were  married,  and  lived  most  happily  toge- 
ther for  seven  years,  when  she  was  removed  by  death. 
Thus  out  of  trial  came  a  song,  even  as  out  of  the  lion  came 
honey. 

CXLIX.  The  Captive  Set  Free.  Job  xxxix.  27.  "Both 
the  eagle  mount  tip  at  thy  command,  and  make  her  nest  on 
high?" 

Many  years  had  a  noble  eagle  been  confined  in  such  a 
manner  that  no  one  had  seen  it  even  attempt  to  raise  a 
wing.     Perfectly  subdued,  unconscious  now  of  its  native 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  79 

power,  it  remained  inactive  and  apparently  contented. 
But  its  owner  was  about  to  leave  for  a  far  country,  never 
to  return.  He  could  not  take  the  eagle  with  him.  "  I  will 
do  one  act  of  kindness  before  I  go,"  said  he,  and  unloosed 
the  chain  from  the  captive  bird.  His  neighbours  and 
children  looked  on,  with  regret  that  they  should  see  the 
eagle  no  more.  A  moment,  and  it  would  be  gone  for  ever ! 
But  no  ;  the  bird  walked  the  usual  round,  which  had  been 
the  length  of  his  chain,  unconscious  that  he  was  free.  The 
gazers  looked  on  in  wonder  and  in  pity.  The  slow  rustling 
of  a  wing  was  heard.  It  was  stretched,  and  then  folded. 
Anon  it  was  stretched  to  its  full  expansion,  and  then  folded 
softly  again.  Now,  slowly  and  cautiously,  the  eagle  ex- 
pands both  wings,  and  looks  up  into  the  blue  sky.  One 
effort  to  mount,  then  another,  and  the  wings  have  found 
their  lost  skill ;  and  upward,  higher,  and  speedier  he  mounts 
his  way,  until  lost  to  view. 

Hast  thou,  O  child  of  God,  been  pinioned  long  to  the 
cares  and  toils  of  earth,  so  that  thy  wings  of  faith  and  love 
have  lost  all  power  to  rise  ?  Once  thou  couldst  soar,  and 
thou  mayest  soar  again.     His  "grace  is  sufficient  for  thee." 

CL.  The  Wheat  and  the  Chaff.  Ps.  i.  4.  "The 
ungodly  are  fwt  so  :  but  are  like  the  chaff  which  the  wind 
driveth  away." 

"  What  is  in  yonder  vessel } "  I  inquire  of  a  passing 
stranger.  "  Chaff,"  he  replies,  turning  a  hasty  glance  in 
the  direction  to  which  I  point,  and  passes  on.  His  answer 
is  all  that  you  could  expect  him  to  give,  and  yet  it  is 
not  correct.  The  vessel  was  filled  with  wheat  and  chaff, 
mingled  together  as  they  were  thrashed  from  the  sheaf ; 
but  it  has  been  shaken  from  side  to  side  for  some  time, 
and  the  wheat  has  all  sunk  to  the  bottom,  while  the  chaff 
has  all  risen  to  the  top.  In  like  manner  many  real,  though 
not  perfect  Christians,  are  set  down  as  hypocrites  by  care- 
less observers,  because  the  things  of  the  Spirit  gravitate 
downward,  lie  unseen,  while  the  vanities  that  perish  in  the 
using  occupy  almost  all  the  visible  surface  of  the  life. 

That  which  is  Christlike  in  Christians  should  not  be 
small,  but  large  and  full-grown  ;  should  not  sink  out  of 
sight,  but  stand  forth  visible  to  all. 


8o  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CLI.        Colour-blind.      Ps.  iv.  6.      "  Who  will  show  us 

any  good  V 

There  is  an  optical  peculiarity  called  Daltonism  or  colour- 
blindness. It  is  so  common  that  nearly  one  in  twenty  have 
it.  It  consists  in  an  inability  to  distinguish  colours.  Green 
is  confounded  with  red.  Those  who  suffer  from  this  defect 
are  unable,  so  far  as  the  colour  is  concerned,  to  distinguish 
the  petals  of  a  rose  from  its  leaves,  or  the  blossom  of  the 
scarlet  poppy  from  the  unripe  corn  among  which  it  is  grow- 
ing. The  beautiful  hues  of  sunset  are  a  delusion  to  them  ; 
the  faces  of  their  friends  wear  a  strange  complexion  ;  and 
the  fair  aspects  of  nature  appear  quite  different  from  what 
they  are  to  others.  And  yet  the  eye  of  the  colour-blind 
seems  the  same  as  an  ordinary  eye.  Its  structure  and 
appearance  look  precisely  similar.  The  peculiarity  is 
almost  unknown  or  unrecognised  by  those  who  have  it ; 
and  being  ignorant  of  its  existence  themselves,  they  cannot 
easily  be  persuaded  to  believe  it.  And  so  are  there  not 
many  coming  to  the  Lord's  house  as  His  people  come, 
worshipping  the  Lord  as  His  people  worship,  making  the 
same  profession  of  religion,  and  walking  in  the  same  ways, 
presenting  no  apparent  difference  between  themselves  and 
true  Christians,  and  yet  who  are  colour-blind  spiritually  ? 
The  whole  economy  of  redemption,  the  entire  scheme  of 
grace,  is  to  them  altogether  different  from  what  it  is  to 
those  who  know  the  power  of  godliness.  The  things  that 
are  spiritually  discerned  are  to  them  uninteresting  and  in- 
comprehensible. The  colours  of  the  heavenly  landscape 
are  confounded  by  them,  and  appear  of  one  uniform  dull 
hue.  Christ  Himself,  who  is  the  chiefest  among  ten  thou- 
sand and  altogether  lovely,  has  no  form  or  comeliness  to 
them  that  they  should  desire  Him.  While  the  believer 
utters  his  rapturous  song,  "  My  Beloved  is  white  and  ruddy," 
they  say,  "  What  is  thy  Beloved  more  than  another  be- 
loved .•"'  They  cannot  see  the  beauties  and  glories  of  the 
world  unseen  ;  and  in  the  very  midst  of  them  are  crying 
out,  "Who  will  show  us  any  good  ? " 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


CLII.  Praying  for  What  we  Do  not  Expect. 
Ps.  V.  3.  "  My  voice  sJialt  Thou  hear  in  the  mor/nni^,  O 
Lord ;  in  the  morning  will  J  direct  my  prayer  unto  Thee,  and 
will  look  tip." 

"  I  WAS  once,"  narrates  Daniel  Ouorm,  "  staying  with  a 
gentleman  who  was  a  very  religious  kind  of  man  ;  and  in 
the  morning  he  began  the  day  with  a  long  family  prayer, 
that  we  might  have  a  Christ-like  spirit,  and  the  mind  that 
was  also  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  that  we  might  have  the  love 
of  God  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
given  to  us.  A  beautiful  prayer  it  was,  and  I  thought, 
What  a  good,  kind  man  you  must  be  !  But  about  an  hour 
after,  I  happened  to  be  coming  along  the  farm,  and  I  heard 
him  hallooing  and  scolding  and  going  on,  finding  fault 
with  everything.  And  when  I  came  in  the  house  with  him 
he  began  again.  Nothing  was  right,  and  he  was,  I  found, 
very  impatient  and  quick-tempered.  "Tis  very  provoking 
to  be  annoyed  in  this  way,  Daniel.  I  don't  know  what 
servants  in  these  times  be  good  for  but  to  worry  and  vex 
one  with  their  idle,  slovenly  ways.'  I  did  not  reply  for  a 
minute  or  two.  And  then  I  said,  '  You  must  be  very 
much  disappointed,  sir.'  '  How  so,  Daniel  .-*  Disappointed?' 
'  I  thought  you  were  expecting  to  receive  a  very  valuable 
present  this  morning,  and  I  see  it  has  not  come.'  '  Present, 
Daniel  ? '  and  he  scratched  his  head,  as  much  as  to  say, 
'  Whatever  can  the  man  be  talking  about  ? '  'I  certainly 
heard  you  speaking  of  it,  sir,'  I  said  quite  coolly.  *  Heard 
me  speak  of  a  valuable  present!  Why,  Daniel,  you  must 
be  dreaming.  I've  never  thought  of  such  a  thing.'  '  Per- 
haps  not,  but  you've  talked  about  it ;  and  I  hoped  it  would 
come  whilst  I  was  here,  for  I  should  dearly  love  to  see  it' 
He  was  getting  angry  with  me  now,  so  I  thought  I  would 
explain.  '  You  know,  sir,  this  morning  you  prayed  for  a 
Christ-like  spirit,  and  the  mind  that  was  in  Jesus,  and  the 
love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  your  heart.'  '  Oh  !  that's  what 
you  mean,  is  it?'  and  he  spoke  as  if  that  weren't  anything 
at  all.  '  Now,  sir,  wouldn't  you  be  rather  surprised  if  your 
prayer  was  to  be  answered,  if  you  were  to  feel  a  nice, 
gentle,  loving  kind  of  spirit  coming  down  upon  you,  all 
patient  and  forgiving  and  kind  ?  Why,  I  believe  you 
would  become  quite  frightened  j  and  you'd  come  in  and 

G 


82  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

sit  down  in  a  faint,  and  imagine  that  you  must  be  going 
to  die,  because  you  felt  so  heavenly-minded  ? '  He  did  not 
like  it  very  much,  but  I  dehvered  my  testimony,  and  learned 
a  lesson  for  myself  too.  We  should  stare  very  often  if  the 
Lord  were  to  answer  our  prayer." 

CLIII.  A  Christian  Philosopher.  Ps.  v.  12.  ''For 
Thou,  Lord,  wilt  Mess  tlie  righteous  ;  with  favour  wilt  Thou 
compass  him  as  7vith  a  shield.'''' 

Faraday  stands  out  prominently  as  a  Christian  as  well  as 
a  philosopher.  Concerning  his  standing  in  science  there  is 
no  dispute.  He  takes  rank  among  the  first  of  his  con- 
temporaries. Universities  and  learned  societies  were  eager 
to  do  him  honour. 

His  religious  character  appears  to  have  been  developed 
from  a  very  early  period.  "  When  an  errand-boy,  we 
find  him  hurrying  the  delivery  of  his  newspapers  on  a 
Sunday  morning,  so  as  to  get  home  in  time  to  make 
himself  neat,  to  go  with  his  parents  to  chapel  ;  his  letters, 
when  abroad,  indicate  the  same  disposition  ;  yet  he  did 
not  make  any  formal  profession  of  his  faith  till  a  month 
after  his  marriage,  when  nearly  thirty  years  of  age.  Of 
his  spiritual  history  up  to  that  period  little  is  known,  but 
there  seem  to  be  grounds  for  believing  that  he  did  not 
accept  the  religion  of  his  fathers  without  a  conscientious 
inquiry  into  its  truth.  It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of 
his  acting  otherwise.  But  after  he  joined  the  Sandemanian 
Church,  his  questionings  were  probably  confined  to  matters 
of  practical  duty  ;  and  to  those  who  know  him  best,  nothing 
could  appear  stronger  than  his  conviction  of  the  reality  of 
the  things  he  believed.  In  order  to  understand  the  life 
and  character  of  Faraday,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind 
that  he  was  a  Christian,  but  that  he  was  a  Sandemanian. 
From  his  earliest  years  that  religious  system  stamped  its 
impress  deeply  on  his  mind  ;  it  surrounded  the  blacksmith's 
son  with  an  atmosphere  of  unusual  purity  and  refinement  ; 
it  developed  the  usefulness  of  his  nature,  and  in  his  after 
career  it  fenced  his  life  from  the  worldliness  around,  as 
well  as  from  much  that  is  esteemed  as  good  by  other 
Christian  bodies.  But  his  sympathies  burst  all  narrow 
bounds.      Thus  the  Abb6  Moigno  tells  us  that,  at   Fara- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  83 

day's  request,  he  one  day  introduced  him  to  Cardinal 
Wiseman.  Tiic  interview  was  very  cordial,  and  his  eminence 
ditl  not  hesitate  frankly  and  good-naturedly  to  ask  Faraday 
if,  in  his  deepest  conviction,  he  believed  all  the  Church  of 
Christ — holy,  catholic,  and  apostolical — was  shut  up  in  the 
little  sect  in  which  he  bore  rule.  '  Oh,  no,'  was  the  reply  ; 
'  but  1  do  believe,  from  the  bottom  of  my  soul,  that  Christ 
is  with  us  ! '" 


CLIV.  God's  Anger  Consistent  with  His  Love. 

Ps.  vii.  II.      "  Goi/  is  angry  with  tJie  wiclied  every  day." 

Theon  was  one  day  reading  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  when 
he  suddenly  closed  the  book,  and  looked  thoughtful  and 
gloomy. 

Hillel  perceived  this,  and  said  to  the  youth  :  "  What 
aileth  thee  ?     Why  is  thy  countenance  troubled  ? " 

Theon  answered  :  "  In  some  places  the  Scriptures  speak 
of  the  wrath  of  God,  and  in  others  He  is  called  Love. 
This  appears  to  me  strange  and  inconsistent." 

The  teacher  calmly  replied  ;  "  Should  they  not  speak  to 
man  in  human  language  ?  Is  it  not  equally  strange  that 
they  should  attribute  a  human  form  to  the  Most  High  .?" 

"  By  no  means,"  answered  the  youth  ;  "that  is  figurative, 
but  wrath " 

Hillel  interrupted  him,  and  said  :  "  Listen  to  my  story. 
There  lived  in  Alexandria  two  fathers,  wealthy  merchants, 
who  had  two  sons  of  the  same  age,  and  they  sent  them  to 
E^esus  on  business  connected  with  their  traffic.  Both 
these  young  men  had  been  thoroughly  instructed  in  the 
religion  of  their  fathers. 

"  When  they  had  sojourned  for  some  time  at  Ephesus, 
they  were  dazzled  by  the  splendour  and  treasures  of  the 
city,  and,  yielding  to  the  allurements  which  beset  them, 
they  forsook  the  path  of  their  fathers,  and  turned  aside  to 
idolatry,  and  worshipped  in  the  temple  of  Diana. 

"  A  friend  at  Ephesus  wrote  of  this  to  Cleon,  one  of  the 
two  fathers  at  Alexandria.  When  Cleon  had  read  the 
letter,  he  was  troubled  in  his  heart,  and  he  was  wroth  with 
the  }-ouths.  Thereupon  he  went  to  the  other  father,  and 
told  him  of  the  apostasy  of  their  sons,  and  of  his  grief 
thereat 


84  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

"  But  the  other  father  laiiglied,  and  said,  *  If  business  do 
but  prosper  with  my  son,  I  shall  give  myself  little  concern 
about  his  religion.' 

"  Then  Cleon  turned  from  him,  and  was  still  more  wroth, 

"  Now,  which  of  these  two  fathers,"  said  Hillel  to  the 
youth,  "  dost  thou  consider  as  the  wiser  and  the  better  ? " 

"He  who  was  wroth,"  answered  Theon. 

"  And  which,"  asked  the  preceptor,  "  was  the  kinder 
father  ? " 

"  He  who  was  wroth,"  again  answered  the  youth. 

"Was  Cleon  wroth  with  his  son.''"  asked  Hillel. 

And  Theon  replied,  "Not  with  his  son,  but  with  his 
backsliding  and  apostasy." 

"And  what,"  asked  the  teacher,  "thinkest  thou  is  the 
cause  of  such  displeasure  against  evil  .-'" 

"  The  sacred  love  of  truth,"  answered  his  disciple. 

"  Behold  then,  my  son,"  said  the  old  man,  "if  thou  canst 
now  think  divinely  of  that  which  is  Divine,  the  human 
expression  will  no  longer  offend  thee." 

CLV.  Daniel  Webster's  Knowledge  of  the 
Bible.  Ps.  viii.  i.  "C  Lord  our  Lord,  how  excellent 
is  2hy  name  in  all  the  earth  !  who  hast  set  Thy  glory  above 
the  heavens^ 

Though  Webster's  fame  rests  chiefly  upon  his  oratorical 
powers,  he  was  remarkable,  too,  for  his  familiarity  with  the 
Bible.  In  fact,  his  colleagues  once  nicknamed  him,  the 
Bible  Concordance  of  the  United  States  Senate. 

While  a  mere  lad,  he  read  with  such  power  and  expres- 
sion that  the  passing  teamsters,  who  stopped  to  water  their 
horses,  used  to  get  "  Webster's  boy  "  to  come  out  beneath 
the  shade  of  the  trees  and  read  the  Bible  to  them.  Those 
who  heard  Mr.  Webster,  in  later  life,  recite  passages  from 
the  Hebrew  prophets  and  Psalms,  say  that  he  held  them 
spellbound,  while  each  passage,  even  the  most  familiar,  came 
home  to  them  in  a  new  meaning.  One  gentleman  says 
that  he  never  received  such  ideas  of  the  majesty  of  God 
and  the  dignity  of  man  as  he  did  one  clear  night  when  Mr. 
Webster,  standing  in  the  open  air,  recited  the  eighth 
Psalm. 

Webster's  mother  observed  another  old  fashion  of  New 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  85 

England  in  training  her  son.  She  encouraged  him  to  me- 
morize such  Scriptural  passages  as  impressed  him.  The 
boy's  retentive  memory,  and  his  sensitiveness  to  Bible 
metaphors  and  to  the  rhythm  of  the  English  version,  stored 
his  mind  with  Scripture.  On  one  occasion  the  teacher 
of  the  district  school  offered  a  jack-knife  to  the  boy  who 
should  recite  the  greatest  number  of  verses  from  the  Bible. 
When  Webster's  turn  came,  he  arose  and  reeled  off  so 
many  verses  that  the  master  was  forced  to  say,  "  Enough." 
It  was  the  mother's  training  and  the  boy's  delight  in  the 
idioms  and  music  of  King  James's  version  that  made  him 
the  "  Biblical  Concordance  of  the  Senate." 

But  these  two  factors  made  him  more  than  a  "  concord- 
ance." The  Hebrew  prophets  inspired  him  to  eloquent 
utterances.  He  listened  to  them,  until  their  vocabulary 
and  idioms,  as  expressed  in  King  James's  translations, 
became  his  mother-tongue.  Of  his  lofty  utterances  it  may 
be  said,  as  Wordsworth  said  of  Milton's  poetry,  they  are 
"  Hebrew  in  soul."  Therefore  they  project  themselves  into 
the  future. 

The  young  man  who  would  be  a  writer  that  shall  be 
read,  or  an  orator  whom  people  w///hear,  should  study  the 
English  Bible.  Its  singular  beauty  and  great  power  as 
literature,  the  thousand  sentiments  and  associations  which 
use  lias  attached  to  it,  have  made  it  a  mightier  force  than 
any  other  book. 

CLVI.  An  Infidel  and  a  Little  Girl  who  was 
Sorry  for  Him.  Ps.  viii.  2.  '■'■  Otit  of  the  viouth  of 
babes  and  siuklitigs  hast  Thou  ordained  strength,  because  of 
Thine  enemies,  that  Thou  mightest  still  the  enejny  and  the 
avefiger" 

The  celebrated  Hume  was  dining  at  the  house  of  an 
intimate  friend.  After  dinner  the  ladies  withdrew  ;  and  in 
the  course  of  conversation,  Mr.  Hume  made  some  asser- 
tion, which  caused  a  gentleman  present  to  observe  to  him, 
"If  you  can  advance  such  sentiments  as  these,  you  cer- 
tainly are  what  the  world  gives  you  credit  for  being,  an 
infidel."  A  little  girl,  whom  the  philosopher  had  often 
noticed,  and  with  whom  he  had  become  a  favourite,  by 
bringing  her  little  presents  of  toys  and  sweetmeats,  hap- 


86  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

pened  to  be  playing  about  the  room  unnoticed.  She 
however  listened  to  the  conversation,  and  on  hearing  the 
above  expression,  left  the  room,  went  to  her  mother,  and 
asked  her,  "  Mamma,  what  is  an  infidel?"  "An  infidel, 
my  dear  !"  replied  her  mother  ;  "  why  should  you  ask  such 
a  question  ?  An  infidel  is  so  awful  a  character  that  I 
scarcely  know  how  to  answer  you."  "  Oh  !  tell  me, 
mamma,"  returned  the  child  ;  "  I  must  know  what  an 
infidel  is."  Struck  with  her  eagerness,  her  mother  at 
length  replied,  "  An  infidel  is  one  who  believes  that  there 
is  no  God,  no  heaven,  no  hell,  no  hereafter."  Some  days 
afterwards  Hume  again  visited  the  house  of  his  friend. 
On  being  introduced  into  the  parlour,  he  found  no  one 
there  but  his  favourite  little  girl ;  he  went  to  her  and 
attempted  to  take  her  up  in  his  arms,  and  kiss  her  as  he 
had  been  used  to  do  ;  but  the  child  shrank  with  horror 
from  his  touch.  "  My  dear,"  said  he,  "  what  is  the  matter  1 
do  I  hurt  you?"  "No,"  she  replied;  "  you  do  not  hurt 
me  ;  but  I  cannot  kiss  you,  I  cannot  play  with  you." 
"Why  not,  my  dear.?"  "Because  you  are  an  infidel." 
"An  infidel!  what  is  that?"  "One  who  believes  there  is 
no  God,  no  heaven,  no  hell,  no  hereafter."  "  And  are  you 
not  very  sorry  for  me,  my  dear.''"  asked  the  philosopher. 
"Yes,  indeed,  I  am  sorry!"  returned  the  child  with 
solemnity  ;  "  and  I  pray  to  God  for  you."  "  Do  you, 
indeed  }  and  what  do  you  say  ? "  "I  say,  O  God,  teach 
this  man  that  Thou  art."  A  striding  illustration  of  the 
above  text. 


CLVII.       Not    Christianized,    but    Humanized. 

Ps.  X.     "  The  wicked  in  his  pride  doth  persecute  the  poor  " 

I  SAID  last  year  to  an  old  saint  of  ninety  years,  "  Is  the 
world  better  or  worse  than  when  you  knew  it  first  ? "  The 
old  man  turned  thoughtfully  to  me,  and  said,  "  I  will  not 
say  that,  so  far  as  I  know  it,  it  has  been  Christianized  ;  but 
I  do  say  that  it  has  been  Jnnnanizcd"  Brutal  sports  trained 
men  to  count  the  defenceless  as  their  prey,  and  made  the 
sight  of  suffering  too  familiar  a  thing  to  be  noticed.  Here 
is  a  bit  of  testimony  that  I  have  met  with  from  old  people 
in  many  forms, and  which  will  find  its  counterpart  in  Simon's 
story.     A  farmer  who  had  hired  a  little  lad  began  striking 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  87 

him  before  they  were  out  of  the  "  Cliurch-town."  The 
poor  mother  came  up  and  pleaded  for  her  son  :  "  O  sir, 
how  would  you  like  to  see  )'Our  little  ones  served  like 
that  ?  "  The  man,  with  an  oath,  bade  her  be  gone,  saying, 
"  77(j' child  is  made  o'  cuse  (coarse)  clay  ;  but  mine  is  made 
of  hne."  Was  not  some  such  sentiment  as  that  general 
concerning  the  poor  in  the  early  part  of  the  century  ?  One 
has  even  met  with  it  lingering  still  in  more  modern  dress. 
To-day,  to  be  poor  is  a  suspicion,  almost  a  crime,  with  some 
few  people. 

CLVIII.      Is    there    no  God?      Ps.  xiv.   i.     '' The  fool 
Iiaih  said  in  his  hearty  There  is  no  God." 

Miss  Martineau  tells,  in  her  Autobiography,  that  it  was 
an  unspeakable  relief  to  her  to  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  no  God.  She  went  out  of  her  house  afterwards, 
she  says,  and  looked  up  at  the  stars  with  a  new  sensation. 
And  all  the  worries  of  life  became  less  irritating  to  her  on  her 
being  assured  that  she  had  no  one  to  be  ultimately  respon- 
sible to  but  herself.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  certainly 
be  to  make  for  many  this  world  a  waste  and  howling 
wilderness,  to  deprive  them  of  the  comfort  of  believing  that 
a  Supreme  Mind  and  Hand  have  been  directing  it  through 
the  ages. 

CLIX.     A    Merchant    Prince.     Ps.   xv.    4.     ''He  thai 
sweareth  to  his  oivn  hurt,  and  changeth  not." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  he  who  gives  to  charity  only  on 
his  death-bed  may  be  said  to  be  "  rather  liberal  with  that 
which  is  another  man's,  than  of  his  own,  and  gives  his 
wealth  to  the  strong  robber.  Death,  in  no  other  sense  than 
the  traveller  yields  his  purse  to  the  highwayman."  Samuel 
Fletcher,  of  Manchester,  one  of  the  merchant  princes  of 
that  city,  was  one  of  thosj  men  whose  delight  it  is  to  be 
their  own  almoners.  He  commenced  business  for  himself 
in  181 1,  and  in  a  {^w  years,  by  constant  honesty,  perseve- 
rance, and  self-denial,  took  his  place  among  the  foremost 
merchants  of  that  great  mercantile  centre.  A  striking 
example  of  his  integrity  in  business  matters  is  given  in  the 
following : — An  event  of  European  interest  (the  battle  of 
Leipsic)  caused  a  revolution  in  the  Manchester  market,  and 


88  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

suddenly  and  enormously  enhanced  the  value  of  a  certain 
class  of  goods,  of  which  Mr.  Fletcher  had  a  quantity  in 
stock,  but  which  he  had  virtually  promised  to  a  customer 
at  a  lower  price,  before  the  news  arrived  of  the  battle.  An 
enterprising  speculator  came  in  and  offered  to  take  the 
entire  stock  at  the  advanced  prices,  and  even  to  advance 
on  these.  Mr.  Fletcher  told  him  that  the  goods  were  not 
his  to  sell.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  usual  casuistry  of 
interest  was  used  to  shake  the  plain  ethics  of  truth  and 
honesty  ;  it  was  in  vain  to  urge  that  the  bargain  had  not 
been  formally  ratified,  etc.  Mr.  Fletcher  contented  himself 
with  saying  that,  however  vexatious  the  loss,  he  had  really, 
if  not  formally,  agreed  to  part  with  the  goods  at  the  price 
stipulated,  and  that  "a  just  man,  even  though  he  swears  to 
his  own  hurt,  changeth  not." 

CLX.     The   Christian's   Portion.     Ps.  xvi.  5.     ''The 
Lord  is  the  portion  of  mine  itiheritance  and  of  my  ciip.^' 

Excellent  was  the  answer  of  Basil  the  Great  to  the 
Emperor  Valens,  who  first  essayed  him  with  large  proffers 
of  honour  and  riches  to  draw  him  from  Christ  :  "  Offer 
these  things  to  children — I  regard  them  not."  Then  after 
threatening,  he  replied  :  "  He  who  has  but  a  few  books  and 
a  wretched  garment  can  suffer  nothing  from  confiscation  : 
banishment  is  nothing  to  one  to  whom  all  places  are  alike, 
and  torture  cannot  be  inflicted  where  there  is  not  a  body 
to  bear  it.  Put  me  to  death,  and  you  do  me  a  favour,  for 
you  send  me  earlier  to  my  rest." 

CLXI.     It    has   been    tried.     Ps.  xviii.  30,     '■'The  word 
of  the  Lord  is  tried" 

Building  a  bridge  across  the  Niagara  River,  below  the 
Falls,  was  once  thought  to  be  impossible.  The  banks  are 
steep  and  high,  the  distance  across  nearly  an  eighth  of  a 
mile,  and  the  river  here  boils  and  foams  so  that  no  boat 
can  stand  the  fury  of  the  torrent  a  moment.  Sending  piles 
and  building  arches,  as  with  other  bridges,  was  quite  out 
of  the  question.  Yet  a  bridge  was  built — a  wire  suspension 
bridge,  so  called  because  it  had  to  be  hung  by  cables  driven 
into   huse   blocks  of  granite   on   each   bank.     The   cables 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  89 

were  made  of  twisted  wire.  The  bridge  looked  like  a 
spider's  thread. 

But  would  the  cables  hold  ?  That  had  to  be  tried.  How 
frightened  the  spectators  were  when  the  engineer  drove  the 
fu'st  carriage  across  !  A  terrible  plunge  would  that  be  into 
the  raging  waters,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  underneath. 
But  the  bridge  stood  the  trial.  Then  gales  and  storms 
tried  it,  and  it  stood.  "  I  am  afraid  to  trust  it,  it  looks  so 
slender,"  said  one  of  a  party,  shrinking  back,  when  visiting 
the  Falls  a  year  afterward.  "  It  has  been  tried,"  said  the 
guide  ;  "  there  is  no  danger,"  and  we  crossed  safely.  The 
Bible  tells  us  of  something  that  is  tried.  "  The  word  of 
the  Lord  is  tried."  Its  declarations  and  promises  are  tried, 
and  its  threatenings  also  are  to  be  relied  on. 

CLXII.  God  seen  in  His  Works.  Ps.  xix.  i.  ''The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God ;  and  the  firmament  she^veth 
His  handyworkP 

An  Arab,  a  wild  son  of  the  desert,  one  more  accustomed 
to  fight  than  to  reason,  to  plunder  a  caravan  than  to  argue 
a  cause,  was  asked  by  a  traveller  how  he  knew  that  there 
was  a  Deity }  He  fixed  his  dark  eyes  with  a  stare  of 
savage  wonder  on  the  man  who  seemed  to  doubt  the  being 
of  God  ;  and  then  (as  he  was  wont,  when  he  encountered  a 
foe,  to  answer  spear  by  spear),  he  met  the  question  by 
another  :  "  How  do  I  know  whether  it  was  a  man  or  a 
camel  which  passed  by  my  tent  last  night  ?"  Well  spoken, 
child  of  the  desert !  for  not  more  plainly  do  the  footprints 
in  the  sand  reveal  to  thy  eye  whether  it  was  a  man  or  a 
camel  that  passed  thy  tent  in  the  darkness  of  the  night, 
than  God's  works  reveal  His  power  and  being. 

CLXIII.  A  Martyr's  Legacy  to  his  Children. 
Ps.  xix.  10.  "  More  to  be  desired  are  they  than  gold,  yea,  than 
tniiih  fine  gold. " 

John  Penry,  the  Welsh  martyr,  was  executed  at  St. 
Thomas  a- Watering,  Surrey,  as  secretly  as  it  could  be 
done,  for  fear  of  a  popular  tumult.  He  died  in  the  thirty- 
fourth  year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  widow  and  four  daughters, 
and  a  great  host  ot  Christians  to  deplore  his  untimely  end. 
He   had   never  meddled  with   politics.      His  sole  ott'ences 


go  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

were  his  ex[:)osures  of  the  glaring  abuses  of  the  episcopal 
clergy  in  Wales,  whereby  souls  of  his  countrymen  were 
ruined,  and  his  open  confession  of  Nonconformity  towards 
the  close  of  his  life.  In  a  letter  written  a  {^^f^  days  before 
his  death,  he  thus  counsels  his  children  :  "  Although  you 
should  be  brought  up  in  never  so  hard  service,  yet,  my  dear 
children,  learn  to  read,  that  you  may  be  conversant  day 
and  night  in  the  Word  of  the  Lord.  If  your  mother  be 
able  to  keep  you  together,  I  doubt  not  that  you  shall  learn 
both  to  write  and  read  by  her  means.  I  have  left  you  four 
Bibles,  each  of  you  one,  being  the  sole  and  only  patrimony 
or  dowry  that  I  have  for  you.  I  beseech  you  and  charge 
you  not  only  to  keep  them,  but  to  read  in  them  day  and 
night ;  and  before  you  read,  and  also  in  and  after  reading, 
be  earnest  in  prayer  and  meditation,  that  you  may  under- 
stand and  perform  the  good  way  of  your  God." 

CLXIV.     The    "Speaking    Leaves."      Ps.   xix.    lo. 

"  More  to  be  desired  are  tJiey  than  gold,  yea,  than  much  fine 
gold :  sweeter  also  than  hofiey  and  the  honeycomb." 

About  thirty  years  ago  the  people  in  the  South  Sea 
Islands  had  never  seen  a  book,  nor  did  they  know  that 
there  was  any  way  of  getting  or  giving  knowledge  but  by 
speech.  Now  they  know  the  value  of  "speaking  leaves," 
as  they  call  tracts  and  books.  Such  is  their  desire  for 
them  that  they  will  travel  ten  miles  in  a  small  canoe,  in  the 
open  sea,  to  obtain  a  single  copy,  for  which  they  offer  fruit 
and  native  cloth.  Many  have  come  thirty  or  forty  miles 
on  land,  carrying  a  burden  all  the  way,  that  they  might 
buy  a  book.  One  of  these  natives  fenced  off  a  plot  of 
ground,  planted  it  with  arrow-root,  and  waited  till  it  was 
ripe.  He  then  prepared  it  for  use,  and  getting  with  it  into 
his  canoe,  spread  its  sail  to  the  wind,  and  steered  for  a 
missionary  station.  After  sailing  for  some  miles,  a  sudden 
gust  of  wind  filled  the  little  sail,  and  upset  the  canoe.  The 
poor  fellow  soon  got  his  canoe  right  again,  and  himself 
safe  in  it,  but  the  arrow-root  had  gone  to  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  He  turned  his  canoe  round  towards  home,  which 
he  reached  with  a  sad  heart.  But  as  soon  as  he  got  there, 
he  planted  a  fresh  plot  of  arrow-root,  and  w-aited  until  it 
was  ready  ;  then  he  set  out  once  more,  sailed  again  over 
the   open    sea,  reached    the   station,  and    bought  a   book. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  91 

The  next  day  he  was  on  his  return,  full  of  joy  that  he  had 
got  what  he  liad  so  long  wished  to  possess. 

CLXV.     Happiness    of    doing    Good.      Ps.    xix.    11. 

"  ///  keeping  of  them  there  is  great  reward." 

As  Henry  Mart\'n  was  on  his  way  to  India,  he  was  watch- 
ful, day  and  night,  for  opportunities  of  doing  good  to  thcjse 
on  board  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed.  He  was  especially 
attentive  to  the  sick.  One  day,  when  the  hatches  were 
shut  down  in  consequence  of  a  gale,  he  went  below  to  visit 
a  sick  sailor.  As  there  was  perfect  darkness  below,  he  was 
obliged  to  feel  his  way.  He  found  the  man  swinging  in 
his  hammock,  in  darkness,  and  heat,  and  damp,  without  a 
creature  to  speak  to  him,  and  in  a  burning  fever.  "  I  gave 
him,"  says  Martyn,  "  a  io-w  grapes  which  had  been  given  to 
me,  to  allay  his  thirst.  How  great  the  pleasure  of  doing 
good,  even  to  the  bodies  of  men  !  " 

Martyn  had  large  experience  of  the  pleasure  of  doing 
good.  His  efforts  to  do  good  were  unceasing,  and  they 
were  made  at  the  expense  of  self-sacrifice.  They  were  thus 
of  a  kind  to  yield  him  the  largest  amount  of  pleasure. 

Have  you  had  experience  of  the  pleasure  of  doing 
good  ?  especially  of  doing  good  to  the  souls  of  men } 
There  is  no  pleasure  like  it.  He  who  labours  in  simplicity 
and  in  godly  sincerity  to  do  good,  has  his  reward  in  a  calm 
and  enduring  pleasure  which  no  earthly  prosperity,  no 
wealth,  nor  honours  can  bestow. 

How  many  seek  for  happiness  from  afar,  when  it  can  be 
had  in  its  purest  form  by  doing  good  to  their  neighbours ! 
To  do  good  and  communicate  forget  not,  if  you  would  be 
happy,  if  you  would  enjoy  the  Saviour's  smile. 

The  manner  in  which  Mr.  Martyn  became  possessed  of 
the  grapes  which  he  gave  to  the  sick  man  is  interesting 
and  instructive. 

The  ship,  after  touching  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
sailed  thence  on  the  Sabbath.  On  that  day  a  boat  came 
alongside  with  fruit  ;  "  but,"  says  Martyn,  "  I  did  not  think 
it  rigiit  to  buy  any,  though  I  longed  to  have  some  to  carry 
to  sea."  On  the  day  on  which  he  visited  the  sick  man,  a 
passenger  who  came  on  board  at  the  Cape,  and  to  whom 
he  had  scarcely  ever  spoken,  sent  him  a  plate  of  fruit,  by 


92  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

which  he  was  greatly  refreshed,  and  enabled  to  relieve  the 
sick  man. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable,  that  this  seasonable  present 
came  on  the  very  day  on  which  Martyn  entered  in  his 
common-place  book  the  following  sentiment,  taken  from  an 
author  he  was  reading  :  "  If,  from  regard  to  God's  Sabbath, 
I  deny  myself,  He  will  more  than  make  it  up  to  me."  In 
keeping  God's  statutes  there  is  great  reward." 

CLXVI.     Wild  Faith.     Ps.  xix.  13.     '' Keep  back  Thy  ser- 

va7it  also  from  presumphious  sins." 

John  Bunyan  says,  in  one  of  his  many  books,  "  Faith  must 
be  always  in  exercise.  Only  put  not  in  the  place  thereof 
presumption.  I  have  observed  that  as  there  are  herbs  and 
flowers  in  our  gardens,  so  there  are  counterfeits  in  the  field  : 
only  they  are  distinguished  from  the  others  by  the  name 
of  wild  ones.  Why,  there  is  faith,  and  wild  faith  :  and  wild 
faith  is  this  presumption.  I  call  it  wild  faith,  because  God 
never  placed  it  in  His  garden — His  Church  :  'tis  only  to  be 
found  in  His  field — the  world.  I  also  call  it  wild  faith, 
because  it  only  grows  up  and  is  nourished  where  other  wild 
notions  abound." 

CLXVII.    The  Traveller's  Tree.    Ps.  xxiii.  5.     ''T/um 
prepares  t  a  table  for  me  in  the  presence  of  mine  enemies." 

Mr.  Eli>IS  describes  this  wonderful  tree,  which  grows  in 
Madagascar,  and  is  so  called  from  its  always  containing, 
in  the  most  arid  season,  a  large  quantity  of  pure  fresh 
water,  supplying  to  the  traveller  the  place  of  wells  in  the 
desert.  Being  somewhat  sceptical  as  to  the  truth  of  what 
he  had  heard,  Mr.  Ellis  determined  to  see  for  himself. 
Coming  to  a  clump  of  the  trees,  one  of  his  bearers  struck 
one.  of  them  with  his  spear,  four  or  five  inches  deep,  into 
the  thick,  firm  end  of  the  stalk  of  the  leaf,  and  on  drawing 
it  back,  a  stream  of  pure  clear  water  gushed  out,  about  a 
quart  of  which  was  caught,  and  all  drank  of  it  on  the  spot. 
It  was  cool,  clear,  and  perfectly  sweet.  Such  a  tree,  so 
valuable  to  the  thirsty  traveller,  forms  no  i.ad  emblem  of 
the  ordinances  of  grace,  prepared  for  the  Loi'd's  people  in 
the  wilderness  of  this  world. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  93 

CLXVIII.     Communion    Sunday.      Psalm,     xxiv.     7. 
"  Lift  up  your  Jieads,  O  ye  ga/es.^' 

The  father  of  the  celebrated  Principal  Carstares  was  a 
man  of  warm  devotional  character,  and  suffered  severely  in 
the  persecution  time.  Wodrow  {Analectic)  tells  of  him  : 
"  He  was  doing  duty  at  the  sacrament  for  a  brother  minis- 
ter at  Calder.  Upon  the  Sabbath  he  was  very  wonderfully 
assisted  in  his  first  prayer,  and  had  a  strange  gale  through 
all  the  sermon,  and  there  was  a  remarkable  emotion  among 
the  hearers.  Singing  the  24th  Psalm  (see  vers.  7-10),  as 
he  came  to  the  tables,  all  in  the  assembly  were  marvel- 
lously affected,  and  glory  seemed  to  fill  that  house.  He 
served  the  first  table  in  a  kind  of  rapture,  and  he  called 
some  ministers  there  to  the  next,  but  he  was  in  such  a 
frame  that  none  of  them  would  come  and  take  the  work 
off  his  hands.  He  continued  at  the  work  with  the  greatest 
enlargement,  and  melting  upon  himself  and  all  present, 
that  could  be,  and  served  fourteen  or  sixteen  tables.  A 
Christian  that  had  been  at  the  table  and  obliged  to  come 
out  of  the  church,  pressing  to  be  in  again,  stood  without 
the  door  and  said  he  was  rapt  in  the  thought  of  the  glory 
that  was  in  that  house  for  near  half  an  hour,  and  got  leave 
scarce  to  think  upon  any  other  thing." 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  movement  similiar  to  that  which 
took  place  at  Kirk  of  Shotts  under  John  Livingstone,  and 
is  evidence  of  the  great  wave  of  religious  feeling  which  was 
then  sweeping  over  Scotland,  the  tide-mark  of  which  we 
can  best  see  in  Rutherford's  "  Letters." 

CLXIX.     The  Wigtown  Martyrs.     Ps.  xxv.  7.     "i?^- 
member  not  the  sins  of  my  youths 

"  My  sins  and  faults  of  youth 
Do  Thou,  O  Lord,  forget  ; 
After  Thy  mercy  think  on  me. 
And  for  Thy  goodness  great," 

was  the  beginning  of  the  song  of  Margaret  Wilson  as  the 
sea  was  rising  round  her  at  the  mouth  of  the  water  of 
Blednoch  by  Wigtown.  Slie  was  twenty  years  of  age, 
and  along  with  an  elderl\-  w  oman,  Margaret  Lachlan,  was 
condemned  to  be  drowned  for  attend in<z:  field  and  house 


94  OLD   TESTAMENT  AAECDOTES. 

conventicles,  and  for  refusing  the  test.  They  were  tied  to 
stakes  within  tide-mark  where  tlie  waters  of  the  Solway 
come  up  swift  and  strong.  The  old  woman  was  put  farther 
in  that  the  sight  of  her  struggles  might  terrify  the  younger 
and  lead  her  to  conform,  but  she  was  faithful  to  the 
death. 

"  O  do  Thou  keep  my  soul ; 

Do  Thou  deliver  me  ; 
And  let  me  never  be  ashamed 

Because  I  trust  in  Thee." 

Desperate  efforts  have  been  made  to  cast  discredit  on 
the  narratives  in  Napier's  "  Life  of  Claverhouse,"  and  it  has 
been  made  a  test  case  along  with  the  death  of  John  Brown 
of  Priesthill.  The  question  has  been  set  at  rest  by  the 
book  of  Dr.  Stewart  of  Glasserton.  The  two  women  are 
buried  in  Wigtown  churchyard,  and  descendants  of  the 
family  to  which  Margaret  Wilson  belonged  are  to  be 
found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Glenvernock  where  she 
lived. 

CLXX.       A    Song    of     Thanksgiving.      Ps.  xxvi.  8. 

"  Lo}-d,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy  /loiese." 

PiNETON  of  Chambrun,  one  of  the  French  Huguenots, 
who  after  fleeing  by  night  and  hiding  in  woods  by  day, 
escaped  at  length  from  France  in  the  time  of  the  dragon- 
nades  of  Louis  XIV.,  tells  that,  when  he  and  his  com- 
panions came  in  sight  of  Geneva,  they  burst  into  tears  and 
sung  for  thanksgiving  from  ver.  8  of  this  Psalm  to  the 
end.  "  Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy  house,  and 
the  place  where  Thine  honour  dwellcth.  .  .  .  My  foot 
standeth  in  an  even  place  ;  in  the  congregations  will  I 
bless  the  Lord." 

CLXXI.      A   Psalm     of     Comfort.       Ps.  xxvii.   1-14. 

"  llie  Lord  is  my  light,"  etc. 

When  India  was  still  heaving  with  the  groundswell  of  the 
terrible  mutiny  of  1857,  the  wife  of  Sir  John  Lawrence  was 
called  home  to  her  children  in  England,  and  had  to  leave 
her  husband  worn  out  with  the  anxiety  and  labour  which 
did  so  much  for  the  preservation  of  the  Indian  Empire, 
unable  to  leave  his  post  and   surrounded   by  smouldering 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  95 

embers  whicli  niij^ht  at  an\'  moment  break  out  ac^ain  into 
flame.  She  writes  :  "  When  the  last  mornincj^ — J.ituiary  6, 
1858 — arrived,  we  had  our  usual  Bible  reading,  and  I  can 
never  think  of  the  27th  Psalm,  which  was  the  portion  we 
then  read  to^ijether,  without  recalling  that  sad  time."  In 
perusing  the  Psalm  one  can  see  what  springs  of  comfort 
must  have  opened  in  every  verse  from  the  beginning,  "  The 
Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salvation  ;  whom  shall  I  fear  ?  " 
to  the  close,  "  Wait  on  the  Lord  :  be  of  good  courage, 
and  He  shall  strengthen  thine  heart :  wait,  I  say,  on  the 
Lord." 

CLXXII.  A  Message  from  Heaven.  Ps.  xxvii.  6. 
'■'■And  now  shall  mine  head  be  lifted  up  above  mine  enemies 
round  about  me." 

A  BOY  was  brought  to  Christ  when  at  a  pubHc  school.  It 
became  known  among  his  school-fellows,  and  one  day, 
when  he  entered  the  play-ground,  he  found  them  drawn  up 
in  a  body  to  meet  him  ;  and  as  soon  as  they  had  him  in 
their  midst,  they  assailed  him  with  laughter  and  cries  of 
contempt.  He  was  taken  completely  by  surprise  ;  his  face 
burned  with  shame  and  anger,  and  the  ground  seemed  to 
be  reeling  beneath  his  feet.  It  was  a  Monday  morning, 
and  the  first  exercise,  after  they  had  entered  the  school, 
was  to  repeat  some  verses  of  a  psalm.  A  pupil  was  called 
up  to  repeat  them,  and  as  the  poor  young  Christian  sat 
bewildered  among  his  persecutors,  the  first  words  which  fell 
on  his  ears  were, — 

"  And  now  even  at  this  present  time, 
Mine  head  shall  lifted  be. 
Above  all  those  that  are  my  foes. 
And  round  encompass  me," 

They  seemed  to  be  sent  straight  from  heaven  to  him. 
They  completely  drove  away  his  agitation,  and  made  him 
calm  and  happy.  He  knew  it  was  his  Father  saying  to 
him,  "  Be  strong,  and  of  a  good  courage  ;  "  and  sorely  did 
he  need  this  encouragement  in  his  hour  of  confession. 

CLXXIII.       Lapse   of    Memory.     P.s.  xxx.  5.     ''  lVeeJ>- 
ing  may  endure  for  a  night,  but  joy  conicth  in  the  morning." 

Dr.   LlEFCHILD  relates  the  following  anecdote   regarding 


96  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

this  text: — "One  Sabbath  morning  a  singular  lapse  of 
memory  befel  me,  which  I  had  never  before  and  have  never 
since  experienced.  When  I  rose  from  sleep,  I  could  not 
recollect  any  portion  of  the  discourse  which  I  had  prepared 
on  the  day  before,  and  what  was  most  strange,  I  could  not 
even  remember  the  text  of  the  prepared  sermon.  I  was 
perplexed,  and  walked  out  before  breakfast  in  Kensington 
Gardens.  While  there,  a  particular  text  occurred  to  my 
mind  ;  and  my  thoughts  seemed  to  dwell  upon  it  so  much, 
that  I  resolved  to  preach  from  that,  without  further  attempt- 
ing to  recall  what  I  had  prepared — a  thing  which  I  had 
never  ventured  to  do  during  all  my  ministry. 

"  From  this  text  I  preached,  and  it  was,  '  Weeping  may 
endure  for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning.'  I 
preached  with  great  liberty,  and  in  the  course  of  the  sermon 
I  quoted  the  lines, — 

'  Beware  of  desperate  steps  !  the  darkest  day — 
Live  till  to-morrow — will  have  passed  away.' 

"  I  afterwards  learned  that  a  man  in  despair  had  that 
very  morning  gone  to  the  Serpentine  to  drown  himself  in 
it.  For  this  purpose  he  had  filled  his  pockets  with  stones, 
hoping  to  sinkatonce.  Some  passengers, however,disturbed 
him  while  on  the  brink,  and  he  returned  to  Kensington, 
intending  to  drown  himself  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening. 
On  passing  my  chapel,  he  saw  a  number  of  people  crowding 
into  it,  and  he  thought  he  would  join  them  in  order  to  pass 
away  the  time.  His  attention  was  riveted  to  the  sermon, 
which  seemed  to  be  in  part  composed  for  him  ;  and  when 
he  heard  me  quote  the  lines  alluded  to,  he  resolved  to 
abandon  his  suicidal  intention." 

CLXXIV.      A    Martyr   of    the    Netherlands.     Ps. 
XXX.  5.     "  For  His  anger  endiireth  hut  a  mo/ne?it." 

Among  those  who  suffered  in  the  Netherlands  during  the 
fierce  governorship  of  Alva  was  ouq  John  Hervvin.  "  In 
prison,"  says  the  chronicler  of  the  time,  "  he  used  to  recreate 
himself  by  singing  of  psalms,  and  the  people  used  to  flock 
together  to  the  pi'ison  door  to  hear  him.  At  the  place 
of  execution  one  gave  him  his  hand  and  comforted  him. 
Then  began  he  to  sing  the  30th  Psalm.  A  friar  interrupted 
him,  but  Hcrwin  quickly  finished  his  Psalm,  many  joining 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  97 

with  him  in  '^in!:^inc^  of  it.  Tlicn  he  said  to  the  people,  '  I 
am  now  j^oin^c^  to  be  saciificed  ;  follow  you  mc  when  God 
of  His  L^oodncss  shall  call  you  to  it'  And  so  he  was  first 
strangled  and  then  burnt  to  ashes." 

Vcr.  5  was  among  the  latest  sayings  of  Dr,  John  Brown, 
the  commentator,  as  he  repeated  it: — "  His  anger  is  for  a 
moment  ;  Mis  favour  is  for  a  life  :  weeping  may  endure 
for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 

CLXXV.     Closing    Words.      Ps.  xxxi.  5.     ''Into  Thy 

hands  I  commit  my  spirit^ 

This  Psalm  has  furnished  closing  words  to  many  a  life, 
especially  ver.  5.  It  was  one  of  the  seven  sa}'ings  on  the 
cross,  and  the  last — "  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend 
My  spirit."  It  was  the  dying  words  of  Stephen  addressed 
to  Christ,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit."  It  was  the 
parting  word  of  Luther,  and  of  Knox,  of  John  Huss  when 
he  was  burned  at  Constance  in  141 5,  of  Jerome  of  Prague, 
of  Julian  Palmer,  one  of  the  noted  martyrs  in  the  reign  of 
the  English  Mary,  of  Francis  Teissier,  the  first  martyr  of 
the  "  Desert,"  who  ascended  the  scaffold  in  1686  singing 
it,  and  of  countless  others.  "The  Lord  Himself  gave  the 
word,  and  great  has  been  the  company  of  those  that 
published  it."  No  watchword  of  the  Captain  of  salvation, 
made  perfect  through  sufferings,  has  been  taken  up  by  so 
many  sons  whom  He  has  led  to  glory  through  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death. 

On  a  dark  morning,  December  22,  1666,  it  was  the 
dying  song  of  Hugh  M'Kail — 

"  Into  Thy  hands  I  do  commit 
My  spirit  ;  for  Thou  art  He, 
O  Thou,  Jehovah,  God  of  truth, 
That  hast  redeemed  me." 

He  was  among  those  that  came  from  the  west  before  the 
fight  at  Pentland,  but,  wishful  to  enter  Edinburgh  on  a 
mission  to  friends,  he  was  taken  at  Braid's  Craigs,  and  after 
suffering  the  torture  of  the  boot,  was  condemned  to  death 
(see  Ps.  xvi.,  p.  192).  "  About  two  of  the  clock,"  says  the 
narrative,  "he  was  carried  to  the  scaffold  with  five  others 
that  suffered  with  him,  where  he  appeared  to  the  conviction 
of  all   that   formerly   knew   him  with  a  fairer,  better,  and 

H 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


more  staid  countenance  than  ever  they  had  before  observed. 
Being  come  to  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  he  directed  his  speech 
northward  to  the  multitude,  saying  that  '  as  his  years  in 
the  world  had  been  few  [he  was  twenty-six]  so  his  words 
at  that  time  should  not  be  many.'  Having  done  speaking 
to  the  people,  who  heard  him  with  great  attention,  he  sung 
a  part  of  the  31st  Psalm,  and  then  prayed  with  such  power 
and  fervency  as  forced  many  to  weep  bitterly.  Having 
ended,  he  gave  his  cloak  and  hat  from  him  ;  and,  when  he 
turned  himself  and  took  hold  of  the  ladder  to  go  up,  he 
said  with  an  audible  voice,  '  I  care  no  more  to  go  up  this 
ladder,  and  over  it,  than  if  I  were  going  home  to  my 
father's  house.'  And  as  he  went  up,  hearing  a  great  noise 
among  the  people,  he  called  down  to  his  fellow-sufferers, 
'  Friends  and  fellow-sufferers,  be  not  afraid.  Every  step 
of  this  ladder  is  a  degree  nearer  heaven.' "  His  farewell 
address  is  known  to  all  acquainted  with  Scottish  history, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  rapt  and  seraphic  of  that  fervid 
time.  Death  touched  his  lips  with  a  live  coal  from  the 
altar  above  before  it  closed  them  on  earth. 

CLXXVI.      An    Extempore     Sermon.      Ps.  xxxi.  23. 

"6>  love  the  Lord,  all  ye  His  saints  :  for  the  Lord  preserveth 

the  faithful." 
The  famous  William  Grimshaw,  of  Haworth,  was  on  one 
occasion  cited  before  the  Metropolitan.  A  complaint  being 
lodged  against  his  intrusion  into  other  folds,  his  grace 
announced  a  confirmation  service  in  Grimshaw's  church, 
expressing  a  desire  to  have  an  interview  with  him.  In  the 
course  of  the  conversation,  the  prelate,  after  stating  the 
charge  of  his  preaching  where  he  had  a  mind,  added,  "  And 
I  learn  that  your  discourses  are  very  loose  ;  that,  in  fact, 
you.  can  and  do  preach  about  anything.  That  I  may  judge 
for  myself  of  your  doctrine  and  manner  of  stating  it,  I  give 
you  notice  that  I  shall  expect  you  to  preach  before  me  and 
the  clergy  present,  in  two  hours  hence,  and  from  the  text 
which  I  am  about  to  name."  The  text  being  named, 
"  Why,  my  lord,"  said  Grimshaw,  "  should  the  congregation 
be  kept  out  of  the  sermon  for  two  hours  ?  Send  a  clergy- 
man to  read  prayers,  and  I  will  begin  immediately." 
Prayers  being  read,  Mr.  Grimshaw  ascended  the  pulpit,  and 
commenced  an  extempore  pra)er  for  the  archbishop,  the 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  99 

people,  and  the  young  persons  about  to  be  confirmed  ;  and 
so  wrestled  with  God  for  His  assistance  and  blessinc^,  that 
the  congregation,  the  clergy,  and  the  prelate  were  moved 
to  tears.  After  the  sermon,  when  the  clergy  were  gathered, 
expecting  to  hear  the  archbishop's  reproof  of  Grimshaw's 
extemporaneous  effusions,  taking  him  by  the  hand,  with  a 
tremulous  voice  and  faltering  tongue  he  said,  "  I  would  to 
God  that  all  the  clergy  in  my  diocese  were  like  this  good 
man."  Grimshaw  afterwards  observed,  "  I  did  expect  to 
be  turned  out  of  my  parish  on  that  occasion  ;  but  if  I  had, 
I  would  have  joined  my  friend  Wesley,  taken  my  saddle- 
bags, and  gone  to  one  of  his  poorest  circuits." 

CLXXVII.     The  Favourite  Psalm  of  St.  Augus- 
tine.    Ps.  xxxii.  i-ii. 

This  was  the  favourite  Psalm  of  Augustine.  With  refer- 
ence to  it  he  says,  "  Intelligentia  prima  est  ut  te  noris 
peccatoreiii"  "  The  beginning  of  understanding  is  to  know 
thj-self  to  be  a  sinner." 

When  Luther  was  once  asked  which  were  the  best 
psalms,  he  replied,  Psalnii  Paulini,  "  the  Pauline  psalms  ;  " 
and  being  asked  to  name  them  he  gave  the  32nd,  51st, 
130th,  and  143rd.  These  all  belong,  it  will  be  observed,  to 
the  penitential  psalms.  Luther's  frame  of  spirit,  and  his 
struggle  for  the  truth  of  justification  by  faith,  naturally 
disposed  him  to  this  view.  But  the  best  psalms  may  be 
said  to  be  those  which  at  the  time  we  feel  to  be  most 
needed.  The  heart  feels  the  way  to  it  in  time  of  danger 
as  David's  hand  to  Goliath's  sword.  "  There  is  none  like 
that ;  give  it  me  ;"  and  God's  word  is  like  the  sword  at  the 
gate  of  Eden — "  it  turns  every  way." 

Ver.  2  was  the  spiritual  aspiration  which  Izaak  Walton 
set  up  for  the  model  of  his  own  life.  In  closing  the  life  of 
Bishop  Sanderson,  he  says  :  "  Tis  now  too  late  to  wish  that 
my  life  may  be  like  his,  for  I  am  in  the  eighty-fifth  year 
of  my  age  ;  but  I  humbly  beseech  Almighty  God  that  my 
death  may  be,  and  I  as  earnestly  beg  of  every  reader  to 
say  Amen.  '  Blessed  is  the  man  unto  whom  the  Lord 
imputeth  not  iniquity,  and  ifi  whose  sp&it  there  is  no 
guile!  " 

This  Psalm  was  also  the  favourite  of  Alexander  Peden, 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


of  whom  so  many  stories  are  told  in  the  south  of  Scotland. 
He  wandered  for  years  with  a  life  on  the  edge  of  death 
among  the  moors  and  mists,  and  died  at  last  in  bed.  Men 
would  call  it  "  charmed  "  ;  he  would  have  accounted  for  it 
by  "snow  and  vapours  fulfilling  His  Word."  When  hard 
pressed  by  the  troopers  and  brought  to  a  breathless  stand, 
his  accustomed  prayer  was  that  God  would  cast  the  skirt 
of  His  cloak  over  him,  and  more  than  once  he  was  saved 
by  the  mist.  He  died  without  violence,  but  his  persecutors 
took  his  body  and  hung  it  on  a  gibbet  at  Cumnock.  There 
he  lies  buried,  and  the  place  has  become  God's  field. 
"  When  the  service  was  ended,"  says  the  story  of  his  life, 
"he  and  others  that  were  with  him  lay  down  in  the  sheep- 
house  and  got  some  sleep.  He  rose  early,  and  went  up  by 
the  burnside  and  stayed  long.  When  he  came  in  to  them 
he  did  sing  the  32nd  Psalm  from  the  7th  verse  to  the 
end — 

*  Thou  art  my  hiding-place  ;  Thou  shalt 
From  trouble  keep  me  free  ; 
Thou  with  songs  of  dehverance 
About  shalt  compass  me. 


*Ye  righteous,  in  the  Lord  be  glad, 
In  Him  do  ye  rejoice  ; 
All  ye  that  upright  are  in  heart, 
For  joy  lift  up  your  voice.' 

When  he  had  ended,  he  repeated  the  7th  verse  again,  and 
said,  '  These  and  what  follow  are  sweet  lines  which  I  got 
at  the  burnside  this  morning,  and  I  will  get  more  to- 
morrow, and  so  shall  we  get  daily  provision.' " 


CLXXVIII.  An  early  Saint.  Ps.  xxxiv.  9.  '' O  fear  the 
Lord,  ye  His  saints :  for  there  is  no  luajit  to  them  that  fear 
Him." 

When  Columba  felt  that  his  departure  was  at  hand,  he 
desired  to  visit  the  corn-fields,  and  say  farewell  to  the 
brothers  at  work  amidst  the  green  ears.  Too  infirm  to 
walk,  he  was  drawn  in  a  car  by  oxen.  Reaching  the 
workers,  he  said,  "  I  much  wished  to  fall  on  sleep  on  Easter- 
day  ;  but  then  I  was  fain  to  wait  a  little  longer,  that  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  loi 

glad  festival  mi;:;ht  not  be  changed  into  a  day  of  gloom  for 
)-ou."  Then  among  the  springing  wheat  the  labourers 
wept  bitterly,  for  they  knew  that  they  should  see  the 
beloved  familiar  face  no  more  ;  but  with  tender,  hopeful 
words,  he  comforted  them  ;  and,  turning  towards  the  East, 
he  blessed  the  island  and  all  its  people. 

On  the  following  Saturday,  supported  by  his  faithful 
friend  Diarmid,  he  proceeded  to  bless  the  granary  belonging 
to  the  community.  Seeing  two  large  heaps  of  corn  piled 
up,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  rejoice  to  know  that,  when  I  leave 
them,  my  children  will  not  suffer  from  want.  To-day  is 
Saturday,  which  in  Holy  Writ  is  called  Sabbath,  or  rest. 
And  truly  to  me  it  is  Sabbath,  for  it  is  the  last  day  of  my 
mortal  life.  On  this  very  night  I  shall  go  the  way  of  my 
fathers.  It  is  my  Lord  Jesus  who  deigns  to  invite  me  ;  and 
it  is  He  who  has  made  known  that  my  summons  will  come 
to-night." 

Then  he  began  to  wend  his  way  to  the  monastery  ;  but 
•wearying  with  the  journey,  he  rested  by  the  wayside. 
Before  him  spread  the  bright  and  varied  panorama  he 
knew  and  loved  so  well.  And  as  he  gazed  on  isles,  ocean, 
and  cloud-capped  mountain,  he  broke  into  the  language  of 
prophecy  :  "This  place,  apparently  small  and  obscure,  shall 
be  largely  honoured,  not  only  by  the  Scottish  kings  and 
their  people,  but  also  by  the  chiefs  of  barbarous  nations 
and  their  subjects ;  and  it  shall  be  held  in  reverence  even 
by  the  holy  men  of  other  Churches."  After  this  he  returned 
to  his  cell,  and  occupied  himself  in  his  favourite  work  of 
transcribing  the  Psalms.  On  coming  to  the  thirty-fourth 
Psalm,  ninth  verse,  "  They  who  fear  the  Lord  shall  want 
no  manner  of  thing  that  is  good,"  he  laid  aside  his  pen  for 
the  last  time. 

The  saint  then  repaired  to  the  church  for  vespers.  Re- 
turning to  his  cell,  he  lay  for  some  time  on  his  bed  with 
its  stone  pillow,  and  proceeded  to  give  his  final  directions, 
that  Diarmid  might  communicate  them  to  his  disciples  : — 
"  Dear  children,  these  are  my  last  words.  Live  in  peace 
and  charity  one  with  another,  and  God,  who  strengthens 
the  good  and  comforts  the  just,  will  grant  you  all  that  is 
needful  in  this  life,  and  will  also  bestow  the  everlasting  joys 
which  are  reserved  for  all  who  keep  this  law."  Then  he 
lay  in  silent  communing  with  the  ]\Iaster  in  whose  service 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


he  had  spent  his  life  ;  but  in  the  dim  dawn,  as  the  bell 
rung  its  first  matin  chime,  with  a  quick  access  of  the  old 
vigour  he  arose  and  entered  the  church  alone. 

The  building,  as  the  awe-stricken  brethren  approached, 
seemed  filled  by  a  dazzling  radiance,  which,  however, 
passed  away  before  Diarmid  reached  the  spot.  Groping 
in  the  darkness,  the  monk  called  out  with  tears,  "  Where 
art  thou,  O  my  father  .''"  but  the  kindly  voice,  once  swift 
to  respond,  was  silent.  Prostrate  before  the  altar  lay  the 
venerable  saint,  and  Diarmid,  placing  himself  at  his  side, 
raised  the  honoured  liead  upon  his  knees.  The  death  scene 
recalls  the  past  vividly,  as  might  a  picture  of  Rembrandt's. 
Again  we  see  a  crowd  of  weeping  monks,  holding  their 
rude  lanterns  aloft  ;  and,  grouped  round  the  central  figures, 
all  eyes  are  riveted  to  the  beloved  face  over  which  the 
shadow  of  death  is  darkly  stealing.  Then  the  heavy  eyes 
are  opened,  and  for  one  moment  they  rest  on  the  brethren 
with  an  expression  of  love  and  serenity,  and  raising  the 
right  hand,  Columba  makes  the  sign  of  blessing.  A  soft 
sigh  escapes  his  lips,  and  the  apostle  of  Caledonia  enters 
into  his  rest  ;  closing  his  career  in  the  year  of  grace  597, 
and  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

CLXXIX.      God    does    not    Forget     His    Saints. 

Ps.  xxxiv.  10.      "  The  young  lions  do  lack,  and  suffer  hunger  : 
hut  they  that  seek  the  Lord  shall  jiot  want  any  good  thingl' 

Oliver  Hey  wood,  ejected  from  Coley  Vicarage  by  the 
Act  of  Uniformity,  lived  on  a  little  stock  of  savings,  until 
one  day  he  and  his  children  were  at  starvation  point,  and 
with  no  earthly  prospect  of  another  meal.  They  sang  at 
family  prayer — 

"  When  cruse  and  barrel  both  are  dry, 
We  still  will  trust  the  Lord  Most  High." 

With  empty  purse  and  empty  basket,  their  faithful  old 
servant  then  set  out  from  the  house,  and  wandered  through 
the  streets  of  Halifax,  thinking  of  the  famishing  children 
whom  she  loved  like  her  own  life,  and  wondering  how  God 
would  give  them  this  day  their  daily  bread.  Returning 
home,  one  of  the  tradespeople  of  the  place,  standing  at  his 
poor,  knew  her,  called  her  in,  and  told  her  that  he  was  just 
casting  about  for  a  messenger  to  take  a  remittance  of  five 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  103 

£]^uinca,s  just  sent  him  from  Manchester,  for  the  master. 
On  lior  arrival  home  with  money  and  food,  it  looked  like  a 
miracle,  and  the  father  said,  when  they  met  at  evening 
pra\'cr — "  Tiie  Lord  hath  not  forgotten  to  be  gracious.  His 
word  is  true  from  the  beginning.  'The  young  lions  ;;/rt;/ 
lack,  and  suffer  hunger  :  but  they  that  trust  the  Lord  shall 
not  lack  any  good  thing.' " 

CLXXX.     The  Tongue.     Ps.  xxxiv.  13.     '' Keep  thy  tongue 

from  evil^  and  thy  lips  from  speaking  guile." 

In  Grecian  history  we  read  how  the  Athenians  erected  to 
Laena's  memory  a  bronze  statue  of  a  lioness  without  a 
tongue.  She  was  put  to  the  torture,  but  would  not  give 
the  name  of  her  lover,  one  of  the  conspirators  who  had 
helped  to  kill  Hipparchus.  Some  say  she  bit  out  her 
tongue,  lest  she  should,  in  a  moment  of  agony,  disclose 
anything. 

CLXXXI.     God's  Readiness  to  Hear  and  Answer 

Prayer.     Ps.  xxxiv.  15.     "  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  upon 
the  righteous,  and  His  ears  are  open  unto  their  cry." 

A  MOTHER  had  been  trying  to  soothe  to  sleep  her  sick 
boy,  and  the  following  conversation  took  place  : — 

*'  Oh,  what  if  we  should  both  fall  asleep,  and  dear  baby 
alone  up  in  your  room  .-•  " 

"  Well,  I  intend  to  sleep,  and  I  intend  that  you  should 
sleep  too.     If  baby  does  wake  up,  I'll  hear  her  first  cry." 

"  Would  you  .-*  How  is  that  ?  How  do  you  hear  sc 
quickly  ? " 

"  Well,  dear,  I  think  that  verse  helps  us  to  know  about  it, 
*  His  ear  is  ever  open  to  their  cry.'  I  feel  that  my  ear  is 
very  open  to  my  baby's  cry.  God  made  the  mother's 
heart  and  the  mother's  ear,  and  *  He  who  made  the  ear, 
shall  He  not  hear  .-• '  Doesn't  this  help  us  to  know  that  His 
ear  must  be  very  open  to  His  children's  cry  ?  Think  often 
about  this,  dear  boy,  when  you  are  left  alone  and  in  pain." 

CLXXXII.  Praising  God.  Ps.  xxxv.  28.  ''And  my 
tongue  shall  speak  of  Thy  righteousness  and  of  Thy  praise  all 
the  day  long." 

We  are  told  of  Mr.  Guthrie,  of  Fenwick  (the  author  of  th§ 


I04  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

well-known  book  "A  Saving  Interest  in  Christ"),  that  he, 
had  a  "  most  gaining  way  of  conversing  with  people,  and 
would  have  stolen  them  off  their  feet  to  Christ  before  ever 
they  were  mvare ! "  He  preached  one  day  on  the  noble 
and  seraphic  exercise  of  praising  God  ;  and  after  he  had 
pressed  that  duty  as  seriously  as  he  could,  he  came  to 
answer  some  objections  that  might  be  proposed.  Among 
other  things  he  put  this  objection:  "And  ye  may  praise 
God  that  get  many  mercies  from  Him  ;  but  what  say  ye  to 
us  that  are  under  many  miseries  and  wants,  and  get  not 
mercies  from  Him?"  Mr,  Guthrie,  looking  out  at  the 
window  of  the  kirk,  and  seeing  very  pleasant  weather, 
presently  says,  "Yes;  hast  thou  nothing  to  praise  God  for  ? 
Wilt  thou  not  praise  God,  man,  for  good  weather  to  the 
lambs  ?  " 


CLXXXIII.      Early    Years    of    Wickedness.      Ps. 

xxxvi.  I.     "  There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes." 

Thomas  Scott,  the  famous  commentator,  was  very  wild 
in  early  youth.  He  says  himself,  referring  to  the  years 
spent  at  school  at  Scorton,  "My  own  conduct  at  this  period 
was  as  immoral  as  want  of  money,  pride,  and  fear  of 
temporal  consequences,  and  a  natural  bashfulness  would 
allow  it  to  be ;  except  that  in  one  thing  I  retained  a  sort 
of  habit  of  my  family,  and  never  learned  to  swear,  or  to 
take  the  name  of  God  in  vain,  unless  sometimes  when 
provoked  to  violent  passion.  There  was  no  fear  of  God 
before  my  eyes.' 


CLXXXIV.  Educated  Eyes.  Ps.  xxxvi.  6.  "  Thy  right- 
eousness is  like  the  great  mountains :  Thy  judgments  are  a 
great  deep.^' 

When  a  traveller  is  fresh  among  the  Alps,  he  is  constantly 
deceived  in  his  reckoning.  One  Englishman  declared  that 
he  could  climb  the  Righi  in  half  an  hour,  but  after  several 
panting  hours  the  summit  was  still  ahead  of  him  ;  yet 
when  he  made  the  boast,  some  of  us  who  stood  by  were 
much  of  his  mind — the  ascent  seemed  so  easy.  This 
partly  accounts  for  the  mistakes  men  make  in  estimating 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES,  105 

eternal  thinr^s:  they  have  been  too  used  to  molehills  to  be 
at  home  with  mountains.  Only  familiarity  with  the  sub- 
limities of  revelation  can  educate  us  to  a  comprehension  of 
their  heights  and  depths. 


CLXXXV.  Accumulation  of  Money.  Ps.  xxxvii.  16. 
"  A  liitle  that  a  righteous  man  hath  is  better  than  the  riches  of 
many  wicked." 

Many  cases  of  individual  conversion  under  Mr.  Sherman's 
powerful  ministry  have  come  to  light.  One  is  told  of  a 
gentleman  who  was  bent  on  accumulating  money,  and  who, 
hearing  of  the  minister's  fame,  strolled  into  Sherman's 
chapel.  The  text  was  Ps.  xxxvii.  16  :  "A  little  that  a 
righteous  man  hath  is  better  than  the  riches  of  many 
wicked."  He  had  gathered  heaps  of  money,  and  supposed 
that  happiness  was  to  be  found  in  its  accumulation.  The 
sermon  put  his  thoughts  on  a  new  track.  He  learned  a 
new  lesson  and  went  home  thoughtful,  and  began  question- 
ing himself  about  the  employment  of  his  money  for  doing 
good  to  the  souls  of  men.  His  house  afterwards  was  always 
open  to  Mr.  Sherman,  who  witnessed  for  himself  the  fruits 
of  piety  in  this  new  friend  and  in  his  family,  and  found  that 
home  a  "  Bethel "  for  Christian  devotion  and  intercourse. 
On  what  little  pivots  do  the  happiness  and  salvation  of 
individuals  often  turn  1 


CLXXXVI.    Cruelty  to  Animals.    Ps.  xxxvii.  26.    ''The 

righteous  is  ever  mercifuV 

One  of  the  many  pleasant  stories  about  General  Grant 
shows  his  kindness  to  animals.  One  day,  at  City  Point,  he 
saw  a  soldier  whipping  a  horse  that  could  not  pull  a  load 
out  of  a  rut.  He  went  and  put  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel 
and  helped  push  the  cart  out,  saying  to  the  teamster,  "If 
you  would  assist  your  horse  instead  of  beating  him,  you 
would  get  along  better."  The  soldier  demanded  to  know 
who  he  was,  but  the  general  merely  replied  that  he  could 
find  out  at  headquarters.  A  more  frightened  or  ashamed 
man  than  this  soldier  when  he  found  who  it  was  that  had 
taught  him  such  a  wholesome  lesson  is  not  often  found. 


io5  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CLXXXVII.  One  Eye  Inward.  Ps.  xxxvii.  31.  ''The 
law  of  his  God  is  lu  his  heafi  ;  none  of  his  steps  shall  slide" 

Dr.  Payson  was  accustomed  to  say,  that  "the  Christian 
should  always  have,  as  it  were,  one  eye  turned  imvard,  to 
keep  watch  over  his  feelings  and  motives  ;  and  thus  the 
work  of  self-examination  would  be  comparatively  easy 
wl:»^n  it  was  engaged  in  more  formally  and  deliberately. 
And  it  is  evident  that  such  a  mode  of  living  is  not  only 
useful  and  desirable,  but  necessary,  if  a  man  would  be 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  himself,  and  furnished  against 
the  wiles  of  Satan  and  the  treachery  of  his  own  heart- 

CLXXXVIII.  Burdens.  Ps.  xxxviii.  4.  ''  For  iimie  ini- 
quities are  gone  over  ?}iiiie  head :  as  an  heavy  burden  they  are 
too  heavy  for  me." 

There  is  a  gateway  at  the  entrance  of  a  narrow  passage 
in  London,  over  which  is  written,  "  No  burdens  allowed  to 
pass  through." 

"  And  yet  we  do  pass  constantly  with  ours,"  said  one 
friend  to  another,  as  they  turned  up  this  passage  out  of  a 
more  frequented  and  broader  thoroughfare.  They  carried 
no  visible  burdens,  but  they  were  like  many  who,  although 
they  have  no  outward  pack  upon  their  shoulders,  often 
stoop  inwardly  beneath  the  pressure  of  a  heavy  load  upon 
the  heart.  The  worst  burdens  are  those  which  never  meet 
the  eye. 

There  is  another  gate — one  which  we  are  invited  to 
enter,  and  must  enter,  if  we  would  ever  attain  to  rest  and 
peace,  and  over  which  is  also  inscribed,  "  No  burdens 
allowed  to  pass  through."  This  is  the  strait  gate  which 
leads  to  life  ;  and  by  it  stands  One  who  opened  the  narrow 
way  to  which  it  leads,  saying  to  each  one  of  us,  "  Come 
unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest." 

CLXXXIX.     The   Use  of  Wool  in  the  Ears.     Ps. 
xxxviii.  13.     "/,  as  a  deaf  man,  heard  not" 

"We  are  told  concerning  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  that,  after 
he  had  given  himself  up  entirely  to  contemplation  and 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  107 

\\alkin;4  with  God,  he  met  with  a  considerable  difficulty  in 
tlie  visits  of  those  friends  who  were  still  in  the  world. 
Their  conversation  broui;;ht  back  thoughts  and  feelings 
connected  with  the  frivolities  which  he  had  for  ever  for- 
saken ;  and  on  one  occasion,  alter  he  had  been  wearied 
with  the  idle  chit-chat  of  his  visitors,  he  found  himself 
unable  to  raise  his  heart  towards  heaven.  When  he  was 
engaged  in  the  exercise  of  prayer,  he  felt  that  their  idle 
talk  Vvas  evidently  the  cause  of  his  losing  fellowship  with 
God.  He  could  not  well  forbid  his  friends  coming,  and 
therefore  he  prepared  himself  for  their  injurious  conversa- 
tion by  carefully  stopping  his  ears  with  little  wads  of  flax. 
He  then  buried  his  head  deep  in  his  cowl,  and  though 
exposed  for  an  hour  to  their  conversation,  he  heard  nothing, 
and  consequently  suffered  no  injury.  He  spoke  to  each  of 
them  some  few  words  of  edification,  and  they  went  their 
way.  We  do  not  suppose  that  for  any  great  length  of 
time  he  was  much  troubled  with  such  visitors,  for  he  must 
have  been  an  uncommonly  uninteresting  companion.  If 
people  once  discover  that  their  clatter  is  lost  upon  you, 
they  are  not  quite  so  eager  to  repeat  the  infliction." 

CXC.     Meditation.     Ps.  xxxix.  3.     ^^  While  I  was  musing 
the  fire  burned" 

A  WRITER  of  the  present  day  says,  "  I  remember  Alma 
Tadema,  the  great  painter,  saying  to  me  that  he  sat  down 
every  day  at  his  easel.  Sometimes  he  began  without  en- 
thusiasm, and  painted  on  with  little  interest.  But  after  an 
hour  or  so  he  surprised  himself  in  a  fit  of  absorption  :  the 
fire  had  kindled  within  him  as  he  worked. 

CXCI.       Brought     back    from    Gates    of    Death. 

Ps.   xxxix.  13.     "  (9  spare  me,   that  I  may  recover  stretigih, 
before  I  go  hence,  and  be  no  mo  re." 

As  Columba  drew  near  the  close  of  his  laborious  life,  he 
devoted  more  time  than  before  to  religious  meditation  and 
prayer.  According  to  Adamnan,  many  marvels  announced 
to  the  monks  that  they  were  soon  to  lose  the  good  abbot. 
His  lonely  cell  was  illumined  nightly  by  a  mysterious 
lustre,  and  the  voice  of  the  apostle  was  heard  uplifted  in 


io8  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

iinlaiown  canticles.  There  is  a  glen  on  the  west  of  the 
islantl,  over  whose  walls  hang  wreaths  and  festoons  of  the 
ivy  with  which  the  monks  wove  together  the  walls  of  their 
rude  huts,  still  called  the  "glen  of  the  temple."  This  leads 
to  an  arable  level,  known  now,  as  in  Columba's  time,  by 
the  name  o{  Machar,  or  the  sandy  plain.  Out  of  the  midst 
of  this  plain  rise  two  green  hills.  One  morning  Coluniba 
said  to  his  attendants,  "  Let  no  one  follow  me  to-day  ;  I 
would  be  alone  ;  "  and  he  withdrew  to  the  solitude  of  Ma- 
char.  A  monk,  however,  fearing  that  some  accident  might 
befall  the  aged  man,  followed  at  a  distance,  and  climbing  a 
rocky  point,  he  saw  Columba  on  the  larger  of  the  two  hills, 
surrounded  by  a  company  of  angels  in  white  raiment. 
After  the  lapse  of  a  thousand  years,  this  eminence  is  still 
known  as  the  'Cnoc  Angel — the  knoll  of  the  angels.  Two 
of  the  monks  who  were  admitted  into  his  intimate  confi- 
dence, sitting  one  day  in  his  cell,  saw  that  he  changed 
countenance  ;  first,  a  glow  as  from  excess  of  joy  shone  on 
his  face,  and  then  a  pallid  gloom,  as  though  he  were 
plunged  into  sorrow.  With  tender  solicitude  they  asked 
what  ailed  him.  Still  he  was  silent.  They  threw  them- 
selves at  his  feet,  and  implored  him  not  to  conceal  from 
his  children  the  mysteries  that  had  been  revealed  to  him. 
"  Dear  children,"  he  replied  after  a  pause,  "  I  would  not 
afflict  you.  Know  then  that  it  is  thirty  years  to-day  since 
I  began  my  pilgrimage  in  Caledonia.  Long  have  I  prayed 
God  that  with  this  thiitieth  year  my  exile  might  terminate, 
and  I  might  be  recalled  to  the  heavenly  country.  When 
you  saw  me  so  joyous,  it  was  because  I  could  see  the 
angels  who  came  in  quest  of  my  soul.  But  suddenly  they 
halted,  yonder,  on  that  rock  across  our  island  strait,  as  if 
they  would  fain  approach  but  were  prevented — prevented 
because  the  Lord  hath  given  less  heed  to  my  fervent  prayer 
than  to  that  of  the  many  Churches  which  have  prayed 
for  me,  and  have  obtained  that  I  should  linger  in  this 
body  four  more  years.  This  is  the  reason  of  my  sorrow. 
But  in  four  j'cars  I  shall  die  without  previous  illness  ;  in 
four  years  the  holy  angels  will  return  for  me,  and  I  shall 
take  my  blissful  flight  with  them  towards  the  Lord." 

That  such  a  vision  may  have  risen  in  the  mind  of  the 
aged  saint,  worn  by  work  and  watching,  is  highly  probable. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  109 

CXCII.      A   Duke's   Example.     Ps.  xl.  3.    '' Many  shall 
see  it,  and  fear,  and  shall  trust  in  the  Lord." 

In  a  town  in  Bavaria,  there  is  a  little  tumble-down  church 
where  the  duke  as  often  as  he  came  tliat  way  used  to  go  in 
and  pray.  If  on  coming  out  of  the  ciiurch  he  happened  to 
meet  any  of  the  peasants,  he  loved  to  converse  with  them 
pleasantly.  One  day  he  met  an  old  man,  and  after  some 
talk,  asked  him  whether  he  could  do  anything  for  him. 

The  peasant  replied,  "Noble  sir,  you  cannot  do  anything 
better  for  me  than  you  have  already  done," 

"  How  so  ?  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  done  anything  for 
you." 

"  But  I  know  it,"  said  the  man  ;  "  for  how  can  I  forget 
that  you  saved  my  son  !  He  travelled  so  long  in  sinful 
ways,  that  for  long  he  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
church  or  prayer.  Some  time  ago  he  was  here,  and  saw 
you,  noble  sir,  enter  this  church.  'I  should  like  to  see  what 
he  docs  there,'  said  the  young  man  scornfully  to  himself, 
and  he  glided  in  after  you.  But  when  he  saw  you  pray  so 
devoutly,  he  was  so  deeply  impressed  that  he  also  began 
to  pray,  and  from  that  moment  became  a  new  man.  I 
thank  you  for  it.  This  is  why  I  said  you  can  do  me  no 
greater  favour  than  you  have  already  done." 

CXCIII.     A  Hymn.     Ps.  xl.  8.     '' I  delight  to  do  Thywill, 
O  my  God:' 

The  late  Henry  Venn  Elliot  loved  best  of  his  sister  Char- 
lotte's hymns,  *'  Thy  will  be  done."  For  himself,  he  did 
not  care  so  much  for  "  Just  as  I  am,"  though  he  often  said 
he  believed  "  she  had  done  more  good  by  that  hymn  than 
he  had  done  in  all  his  ministry." 

CXCIV.     Subjection    of  the    Will.      Ps.  xl.  8.     "/ 

delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  my  God." 

There  is  a  memorable  passage  in  the  history  of  St.  Francis 
that  may  throw  light  on  this  subject.  The  grand  rule  of 
the  Order  which  he  founded,  was  implicit  submission  to 
the  superior.  One  day  a  monk  proved  refractory.  He 
must  be  subdued.     By  order  of  St.  Francis,  a  grave  was 


no  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

dug  deep  enough  to  hold  a  man  ;  the  monk  was  put  into 
it  ;  the  brothers  began  to  shovel  in  the  earth  ;  while  their 
superior  standing  by  looked  on  stern  as  deatii.  Wiien  the 
mould  had  reached  the  monk's  knees,  St.  Francis  asked, 
"  Are  }'ou  dead  yet  ?  Is  your  will  dead  ?  Do  you  yield  ?  " 
There  was  no  answer  ;  down  in  that  grave  there  seemed 
to  stand  a  man  with  a  will  as  iron  as  his  own.  The  signal 
was  given,  and  the  burial  went  on.  Dead  to  pity  and  all 
the  weaknesses  of  humanity,  St.  Francis  stood  ready  to 
give  the  signal  that  should  finish  the  burial.  It  was  not 
needed,  the  iron  bent  ;  he  was  vanquished  ;  the  funeral 
was  stopped.     The  poor  brother  said,  "  I  am  dead  !  " 


CXCV.     The  Secret  of  a  Preacher's  Success.    Ps. 

xl.  lo.  **  /  /lave  not  hid  Thy  n'gh/eoiisness  within  viy  heart ; 
I  have  dcclaird  27iy  failJifiiincss  and  Thy  salvation  :  I  have 
not  concealed  Thy  lovingkindness  and  Thy  truth  from  the  great 
congregation.^^ 

One  of  the  secrets  of  the  success  of  Sherman  (who  followed 
Rowland  Hill  at  Surrey  Chapel)  as  a  preacher  was  the 
studied  simplicity  of  his  style,  and  his  homely  and  forcible 
illustrations.  "  The  glory  of  the  gospel,"  he  used  to  say, 
"  is  its  simplicity.  We  never  think  of  painting  gold  or 
diamonds."  Whilst  appreciating  the  value  of  literary  art, 
he  feared  some  might  think  "  more  of  the  polish  than  the 
material."  One  Sunday  morning  a  learned  doctor  preached 
a  very  eloquent  sermon,  of  which  Mr.  Sherman  was  a 
hearer.  When  the  doctor  came  into  the  vestry  after  he 
left  the  pulpit,  Mr.  Sherman  said,  "Well,  doctor,  do  you 
call  this  preaching  the  gospel  ? "  The  doctor  hesitated 
and  replied  ;  "  Well,  I  am  sure  I  took  a  great  deal  of  pains 
in  the  composition  of  my  sermon  !  "  I  doubt  not,"  Mr. 
Sherman  replied;  "but  suppose,  doctor,  that  a  poor  hungry 
soul  had  come  into  Surrey  Chapel  this  morning,  do  you 
think  there  would  have  been  anything  for  him  to  feed 
upon  ?  Take  my  advice,  and  whenever  you  have  such  an 
opportunity  as  you  had  this  morning,  preach  Christ  and 
the  plenitude  of  His  grace.  I  suppose  you  had  not  fewer 
than  2000  hearers.  What  an  opportunity  of  proclaiming 
the  great  salvation  !  " 


OLD    TESTA ME.\r  ANECDOTES.  Ill 

CXCVI.  Sick  Rooms.  Ps.  xli.  3.  ''The  Lord  will 
stre/igi/ien  him  upon  the  bed  of  languishing :  Thou  wilt  make 
all  his  bed  in  his  sickness." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  sick  rooms  should  be  like  those 
wayside  chapels  we  see  abroad,  with  the  tokens  of  the 
Passion  within,  where  tired  workers  can  turn  in  for  a  i^w 
moments  and  lay  down  their  burthen,  and  find  rest  and 
refreshment  of  spirits.  Beware,  lest  the  wayside  chapel  be 
transformed  into  a  drug  shop,  where  an  incessant  talk  of 
ailments  forms  only  a  new  call  to  endurance  on  the  part 
of  those  who  set  foot  within  them. 


CXCVII.  Duty  of  Hopefulness.  Ps.  xliii.  5.  "Why 
art  Zhou  cast  doiun,  O  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted 
within  me  ?  hope  in  God :  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  who  is 
the  health  of  my  countenance,  and  my  God." 

After  a  great  disappointment  in  early  life,  Sir  William 
Rowan  Hamilton  fell  into  deep  despondence,  and  on  one 
occasion  was  tempted  to  commit  suicide.  He  thus  writes 
to  a  friend  :  "  I  have  once  in  my  life  experienced,  in  all  but 
its  last  fatal  force,  the  suicidal  impulse.  It  was,  as  I  full 
well  remember,  in  the  month  of  February,  1825,  and  when 
on  my  way  from  Dublin  to  this  Observatory,  for  Dr. 
Brinkley  had  invited  me  to  join  a  dinner  party  here.  The 
grief  which  had  recently  fallen  upon  me  was  one  which  I 
feel  even  yet.  I  remember  the  exact  spot  where  I  thought 
for  a  moment  of  plunging,  for  death,  into  the  water.  A 
feeling  of  personal  courage  protected  me,  revolting  against 
the  imagined  act,  as  one  of  cowardice.  I  would  not  leave 
my  post  ;  I  felt  I  had  something  to  do.  Alas !  what 
practical  irreligion  and  real  unbelief  were  shown  in  that 
complete  and  prostrate  despondence !  I  am  now  deeply 
convinced  that- along  with  resignation  and  heavenly  hope, 
it  is  a  duty  to  cherish  also,  if  possible,  a  spirit  of  hope, 
though  not  of  anxiety,  with  respect  to  this  earthly  exist- 
ence, for  to  a  sinful  and  tremendous  depth,  at  the  thought 
of  which  I  shudder  now,  I  have  sounded  long  ago  the 
abysses  of  the  opposite  spirit,  and  through  God's  grace 
emerged." 


112  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CXCVIII.  The  Conversion  of  Count  deGasparin. 

Ps.  xlv.   5.     "  Thine  ai-rows  are  sharp  in   the   heart  of  the 
kin^s  enemies  ;  tvherehy  the  people  fall  under  Thee." 

Adolph  Monod,  at  Lyons,  France,  one  Lord's  day  was 
preaching  from  the  text,  "  God  so  loved  the  world,"  etc. 
He  spoke  of  Christ  as  the  true  God-man,  and  announced 
that  the  next  Sabbath  he  would  show  how  men  could  be 
saved  by  faith  in  this  God-man.  But  the  authorities  of 
this  church  were  opposed  to  a  doctrine  so  purely  evangelical, 
and  informed  Monod  that  if  he  did  not  omit  the  sermon  he 
had  announced,  they  would  have  him  arrested  and  brought 
before  the  Prefect,  and  dismissed  from  his  office.  Monod, 
notwithstanding,  preached  his  sermon,  and  the  authorities 
made  their  complaint.  The  Prefect  demanded  the  two 
sermons,  and  Monod  sent  them  to  him. 

The  Prefect,  Count  de  Gasparin,  was  a  Catholic.  He 
came  home  at  evening  to  his  wife,  and  found  the  sermons. 
Pie  never  liked  sermons,  especially  evangelical  sermons  ; 
but  he  was  a  man  who  discharged  faithfully  the  duties  of 
his  office.  It  was  necessary  that  the  sermons  should  be 
read.  He  came  to  his  wife  with  the  manuscripts  in  his 
hand,  complaining  that  he  would  have  to  give  up  the  whole 
evening  to  this  irksome  and  protracted  labour.  She  offered, 
as  her  liusband's  worthy  helpmeet,  to  read  them  with  him. 
They  began.  With  every  page  they  grew  more  interested. 
They  forgot  that  it  was  evening  and  night.  That  which 
at  first  was  an  official  duty  became  a  service  of  the  heart. 
They  finished  the  first,  and  eagerly  grasped  the  second. 
And  what  was  the  result }  As  a  magistrate,  Gasparin  was 
forced  to  deprive  Monod  of  his  place,  because  all  the 
authorities  demanded  it.  But  he  and  his  wife  became 
evangelical  Christians,  living,  joyful,  and  happy  believers 
in  Christ.  They  found  that  night  "  the  pearl  of  great 
price,"  and  it  has  remained  in  the  family.  Their  son. 
Count  Agcnor  de  Gasparin,  has  long  been  the  head  and 
pillar  of  the  evangelical  party  in  France. 

CXCIX.     The  V^''orth  and   Beauty  of  a  SouL     Ps. 

xlix.  8.      "  For  the  redemption  of  their  soul  is  precious." 

It  is  told  of  St  Catherine  of  Sienna  that  she  set  a  true 
value  on  the  individual  sotd,  however  defaced  by  sin,  and 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  113 

exclaimed,  of  one  sunk  and  degraded,  to  her  Dominican 
Confessor  Raymond,  "Oh,  father,  could  you  but  see  the 
beauty  of  a  rational  soul,  you  would  sacrifice  your  life  a 
hundred  times  for  its  salvation. 

CC.     The  Reconciliation  Death.     Ps.  xlix.  8.     "77/^ 
redemptio]i  of  their  soul  is  precious." 

The  death  of  Dr.  Friedrich  Schleiermacher,  one  of  the 
greatest  names  of  Germany,  is  worthy  of  record.  Profound 
as  his  theological  views  may  appear,  and  scientific  beyond 
dispute  as  many  deem  them,  they  are  in  many  respects 
only  the  gropings  of  a  grand  mind,  which  was  self-relying 
and  proud,  after  that  truth  which  the  Spirit  of  God  has 
often  made  patent  to  babes.  Upon  his  deathbed  his 
sufferings  were  great,  and  he  complained  of  a  violent 
sensation  of  burning  inwardly.  "  Dear  children,"  he  said, 
"you  should  now  all  of  you  go  from  the  room,  and  leave 
me  alone  ;  I  would  fain  spare  you  the  woful  spectacle." 
The  perfect  lineaments  of  death  presented  themselves  ; 
his  eye  appeared  to  have  grown  dim, — his  death-struggle 
to  have  been  accomplished.  At  this  moment  he  laid  his 
two  forefingers  upon  his  left  eye,  as  he  often  did  when 
reflecting  deeply,  and  began  to  speak  :  "  We  have  the 
reconciliation-death  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  body  and  His 
blood."  While  thus  engaged,  he  had  raised  himself  up, 
his  features  began  to  grow  animated,  his  voice  became 
clear  and  strong,  and  he  said  with  priestly  solemnity, 
"  Are  ye  one  with  me  in  this  faith  ?  "  to  which  his  friends 
replied  with  aloud  "Yea!"  "  Then  let  us  celebrate  the 
Lord's  Supper  !  But  there  can  be  no  talk  of  the  sacristan. 
Quick,  quick  !  let  no  one  stumble  at  matters  of  form  ! " 
After  that  which  was  necessary  for  the  purpose  had  been 
fetched  (his  friends  having  waited  with  him,  during  the 
interval,  in  solemn  silence),  he  began,  with  increasingly 
radiant  features,  and  eyes  in  which  there  had  returned  a 
wonderful,  indescribable  brightness,  nay,  a  sublime  glow 
of  affection,  with  which  he  looked  upon  those  around  him, 
to  utter  a  few  words  of  prayer  and  of  introduction  to  the 
sacred  service.  After  this,  addressing  in  full  and  aloud, 
to  eacii  individual,  and  last  of  all  to  himself,  the  words  of 
the  institution,  he  first  gave  the  bread  and  the  wine  to  the 

I 


114  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

others  who  were  present,  then  partook  of  them  himself, 
and  said,  "  Upon  these  words  of  Scripture  I  abide ;  they 
are  the  foundation  of  my  faith."  After  he  had  pronounced 
the  benediction,  his  eye  first  turned  once  more  towards 
his  consort  with  an  expression  of  perfect  love,  and  then 
he  looked  at  each  individual  with  affecting  and  fervent 
cordiality,  utterini^  these  words,  "Thus  are  we,  and  abide 
in  iJiis  love  and  fellowship,  one!"  He  laid  himself  back 
upon  the  pillow.  The  radiance  still  rested  upon  his  features. 
After  some  minutes  he  said,  "  Now,  I  can  hold  out  here  no 
lon<;er  ;  "  and  again,  "  Give  me  another  position."  He  was 
laid  upon  his  side ;  he  breathed  a  few  times  ;  life  came  to 
a  stand.  The  children  had  entered  the  room  in  the  mean- 
time, and  surrounded  the  bed,  kneeling.  His  eye  gradually 
closed. 

It  is  amid  scenes  like  these  that  the  life  is  tested.  It 
is  there  that  men  are  detected  whether  they  have  been 
gambling  regarding  their  eternity,  and  staking  all  on  the 
throw  of  a  die,  or  giving  diligence  to  make  their  calling 
and  election  sure.  Calmly  to  adjust  the  position  of  the 
body,  and  as  calmly  to  wait  for  "  the  purchased  redemp- 
tion "  of  the  soul — it  is  thus  that  we  discern  between  the 
fine  gold  and  the  reprobate  silver. 

CCI.     What  Next!     Ps.  xlix.  17.     "  When  he  dieth  he  shall 
carry  nothing  away  :  his  glory  shall  not  descend  after  him." 

A  PROFESSOR  of  great  reputation  for  wisdom  and  piety 
was  once  accosted  by  a  student  just  entering  the  university 
of  which  he  was  a  professor.  "  My  parents  have  just  given 
me  leave  to  study  the  law,  which  is  the  thing  I  have  been 
wishing  for  all  my  life,  and  I  have  now  come  to  this 
university  on  account  of  its  great  fame,  and  mean  to  spare 
no  pains  in  mastering  the  subject."  While  thus  he  was 
running  on,  the  professor  interrupted  him.  "Well,  and 
when  you  have  got  through  your  course  of  studies,  what 
then.?"  "Then  I  shall  take  my  doctor's  degree."  "And 
then  .-• "  answered  the  doctor.  "And  then,"  continued  the 
youth,  "  I  shall  have  a  number  of  difficult  cases  to  manage, 
which  will  increase  my  fame,  and  I  shall  gain  a  great 
reputation."  "And  then.?"  repeated  the  holy  man.  "Why, 
then  there  cannot  be  a  question   I  shall  be  promoted  to 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


some  high  office  or  anotlier  ;  besides,  I  shall  malce  money 
and  grow  rich."  "And  tiien  ?"  the  holy  man  gently  inter- 
posed. "And  then,"  replied  the  youth,  "I  shall  live  in 
honour  and  dignity,  and  l3e  able  to  look  forward  to  a  happy 
old  age,"  "  And  then  }  "  was  again  asked.  "  And  then, 
and  then,"  said  the  youth,  "  I  shall  die."  Here  the  \\o\v 
man  lifted  up  his  voice  and  again  inquired,  "  And  then  ? " 
The  young  man  could  answer  no  more,  but  went  away 
sorrowful. 

ecu.     "The     Cattle     on     a    Thousand    Hills." 

Ps.  1.  lo.     "For  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  Aline,   and  the 
cattle  upon  a  thousand  hillsJ^ 

Mother  Johnson  (as  she  was  affectionately  called)  and 
her  husband  were  real  Christians,  not  ashamed  of  their 
Lord,  and  they  took  every  opportunity  which  offered  to 
speak  a  word  for  their  Master.  Being  in  charge  of  a 
small  side  station  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  they  came 
often  in  contact  with  Highland  drovers  on  their  way  to 
southern  markets  with  their  cattle.  They  used  to  talk 
faithfully  to  such,  as  they  stopped  at  the  cottage  for 
refreshment  and  rest.  By-and-by  the  husband  died,  and 
Mother  Johnson  went  to  a  northern  city,  where  she  lived 
amongst  the  poorest — and  still  laboured  for  God  as  a 
Bible-woman.  She  was  in  no  society's  pay,  but  she  read 
in  her  Bible  that  God  would  supply  all  her  need,  and  she 
believed  it. 

One  winter's  evening,  after  a  long  day's  work,  she  arrived 
at  her  humble  lodging,  her  feet  wet  with  melting  snow,  and 
on  taking  off  her  boots  which  were  much  worn,  she 
literally  talked  with  the  Lord  in  some  such  words,  "Ye 
ken,  Lord,  ye  promised  to  supply  all  my  need  when  I  was 
on  your  business." 

"  The  cattle  on  a  thousand  hills  are  Mine,"  came  in- 
stantly into  her  mind. 

"  Ah,  Lord,  I  ken  naething  aboot  the  cattle,"  and 
holding  up  her  boots,  she  added,  "  See  how  holey  tlie_v 
are  ;  I  need  a  new  pair."  "  The  cattle  upon  a  thousand 
hills  are  INIine,"  was  once  more  the  answer. 

This  went  on  for  some  time,  until  the  constant  repetition 
of  the  apparently  inappropriate  passage  almost  annoyed 


ii6  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

her.  Then  a  stranger  came  to  her  door,  and  knocked — a 
drover  — who  said  as  he  came  into  her  poor  room,  "  Mother 
Johnson,  mine  had  a  gude  time  awa  Sooth  this  year  \vi  oor 
cattle,  and  some  of  the  auld  friends  sent  ye  this,"  placing 
five  pounds  in  her  hands.  Then,  as  she  said  to  a  lady 
visitor,  "  I  kent  a'  aboot  His  cattle." 

CCIII.     A  Pauline  Psalm.     Ps.  li.  1-19. 

This  has  had  a  manifold  history,  open  and  secret.  It  is 
one  of  the  Pauline  psalms  which  delighted  Luther. 

It  was  sung  by  George  Wishart  and  his  friends  at  the 
Laird  of  Ormiston's,  in  East  Lothian,  on  the  night  when 
he  was  taken  prisoner.  "  After  suppar  he  held  comfortable 
purpose  of  the  death  of  Goddis  chosen  childrin,  and 
mirrelie  said,  '  Methinks  that  I  desire  earnestly  to  sleep  ; ' 
and  therewith  he  said,  '  Will  we  sing  a  psalm  ?  '  And  so 
he  appointed  the  5  ist,  which  was  put  in  Scotishe  meter,  and 
began  thus, — 

*  Have  mercy  on  me,  God  of  might, 

Of  mercy  Lord  and  King  ; 
For  Thy  mercy  is  set  full  right 

Above  all  earthly  thing. 
Therefore  I  cry  baith  day  and  night, 

And  with  my  hert  sail  sing  ; 
To  Thy  mercy  with  Thee  will  I  go.' " 

The  version  of  the  Psalm  is  by  John  Wedderburn,  of 
Dundee. 

The  Psalm  was  read  to  Lady  Jane  Grey  and  her  husband, 
Guildford  Dudley,  when  they  were  executed  together,  Aug. 
22nd,  1553, — read  to  her  in  Latin,  and  repeated  by  her 
in  English.  It  was  read  also  at  Norfolk's  execution  a  few 
years  later  ;  it  was  the  Miserere  or  dying  psalm  of  the 
time. 

When  it  was  read  to  Henry  V.  of  England  as  he  was 
dying,  the  closing  words,  "  Build  Thou  the  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem," seemed  to  fall  on  his  ear  as  a  reproach,  and  he 
murmured,  "  If  I  had  finished  the  war  in  France,  and 
established  peace,  I  would  have  gone  to  Palestine  to  rescue 
the  Holy  City  from  the  Saracens." 

Crespin,  in  his  "Martyrologie,"  tells  of  Pierre  Milet, burned 
in  1550  on  the  Place  Maubert,  Paris,  with  the  refinements 
of  cruelty  common  at  the  time,  that,  being  hoisted  in  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  117 

air,  he  bc[:^an  to  sin^  the  51st  Psalm,  Misericords  an  pajivre 
viciciix.  When  the  fire  was  kindled  it  cau[^lit  the  straw 
which  was  put  under  his  armpits  and  burned  his  hair.  But 
not  the  less  he  continued  the  psalm  when  his  limbs  were 
consumed. 

It  was  the  last  prayer  of  CEcolampadius,  the  close  friend 
of  Zwingli,  whose  untimely  death,  in  153 1,  agi^ravated  a 
sickness  he  had,  and  brought  him  to  his  end.  He  called 
the  ministers  of  the  churches  round  him,  e.\horted  them  to 
fidelity  and  purity  of  doctrine,  prayed  earnestly  with  the 
words  of  David  in  the  51st  Psalm,  and  soon  after  fell  asleep. 

Ver.  18.  The  first  presbytery  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian 
Church  was  constituted  in  Carrickfergus  by  immigrants 
from  Scotland,  June  loth,  1662.  There  were  five  ministers 
and  as  many  elders.  The  sermon  was  from  Ps.  li.  18, 
"  Do  good  in  Thy  good  pleasure  unto  Zion  ;  build  Thou 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem."  Two  hundred  years  afterwards, 
in  1842,  every  minister  of  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church 
preached  from  this  same  text.  There  were  then  above 
five  hundred. 


CCIV.  Caught  by  Guile.  Ps.  li.  13.  "  Then  will  I 
teach  transgressors  Thy  ways ;  and  sinners  shall  be  converted 
unto  Thee." 

BiLNEY,  who  afterwards  became  a  martyr  for  the  truth,  fell 
in  love  with  young  Latimer,  then  a  Roman  Catholic  priest. 
It  was  not  safe  then  to  preach  the  Gospel,  so  he  said  to 
Latimer,  "  I  would  like  you  to  be  my  father  confessor," 
and  according  to  the  usages  of  his  Church,  he  dared  not 
refuse.  Afterwards  Latimer  told  that  when  Bilney  made 
his  study  a  confessional,  he  poured  forth  such  a  tale  of  sin 
and  grace  that  it  gave  him  "  a  smell  of  the  grace  of  God." 
Thus  Latimer  was  caught  by  guile,  and  turned  from  that 
day. 

CCV.  An  Old  Hebrew  Parable.  Ps.  li.  17.  ''The 
sacrijices  of  God  are  a  broken  st'irit .-  a  broken  and  a  contrite 
heart,  O  God,  Ihoii  wilt  not  despisei" 

An  Israelite  came  to  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  with  a 
lamb  for  a  sin-offering.     TJie  priest  took  it  from  his  hands 


ii8  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

but  found  it  maimed.  He  called  the  offerer :  "  Dost  thou 
not  know  the  law  ?  "  "  But,  my  father,  I  am  poor  !  "  "  Why 
then  didst  thou  not  bring  two  turtle-doves,  as  the  law 
allows  thee  ? "  "  Nay,  my  father,  but  the  lamb  is  more 
valuable,  and  I  was  ashamed  to  bring  so  small  a  sacrifice 
to  our  God  and  before  His  people."  "And  dost  thou  think, 
my  son,  that  God  is  pleased  with  the  value  of  thy  offering  ? 
The  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills  are  His.  He  demands 
obedience,  and  a  spotless  dove  is  more  acceptable  than  an 
ox  that  is  blemished.  Go  and  subdue  thy  pride."  The 
Israelite  went  his  way,  sorrowful  and  ashamed.  The  peni- 
tent in  the  Psalm  of  David  was  a  part  of  the  service  of  the 
temple  for  that  day.  A  poor  penitent  came  up  to  worship 
before  the  Lord  who  had  just  risen  from  a  sick  bed.  He 
could  now  scarcely  sustain  his  tottering  limbs.  The  words 
of  the  Psalm  were  like  a  cordial  to  his  sinking  spirit.  One 
after  another  brought  his  sacrifice,  and  was  accepted  ;  but 
the  penitent  had  none.  At  length  he  drew  near  the  priest, 
and  said,  "  Last  night  a  poor  widow  and  her  children  came 
to  me,  and  I  had  nothing  to  give  her  but  the  two  pigeons 
which  were  ready  for  sacrifice."  "Why  then  art  thou  come 
to  me,  my  son  t  "  I  heard  them  sing,  "  The  sacrifices  of  God 
are  a  broken  spirit.  Will  He  not  accept  mine  ?  God  be 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner !  "  The  old  priest  was  melted,  and 
the  tears  started  in  his  eye  as  he  raised  the  poor  penitent. 
He  laid  his  hands  on  his  head  :  "  Blessed  be  thou,  my  son! 
Thine  offering  is  accepted.  It  is  better  than  thousands  of 
rivers  of  oil.  Jehovah  make  His  face  to  shine  upon  thee, 
and  give  thee  peace !" 


CCVI.     The   Last    Hours   of  Darnley.      Ps.   Iv.  4. 

"  My  heart  is  sore  pained  within  me." 

Darnley's  servants  told  of  the  last  hours  of  his  life  that 
Mary's  words  at  parting  made  him  feel  very  uneasy.  She 
left  him  at  the  house  of  the  Kirk  o'  Field  (near  the  site  of 
the  present  University),  and  went  to  Holyrood  that  night 
to  be  present  at  the  marriage  of  one  of  her  maids  of  honour. 
On  quitting  him  she  said,  "  It  is  a  year  to-day  since  David 
Rizzio  died."  He  could  not  sleep,  and  turned  to  read  the 
lesson  of  the  day,  which  was  the  55  th  Psalm.     Next  morn- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  119 

ing  he  was  found  Iving  dead  in  the  little  garden  beside  the 
house.     It  was  Sabbath  evening,  Feb.  Qlh,  1567. 

Some  of  the  verses  sound  like  a  knell  on  a  sinful  past, 
and  a  threatening  of  doom  on  the  men  of  blood  around. 
Well  for  poor  Darnley  if  he  got  his  heart  into  the  closing 
words  of  the  Psalm  ! 

Ver.  4.  "  My  heart  is  sore  pained  within  me  ;  and  the 
terrors  of  death  are  fallen  upon  me." 

Ver.  5.  "  Fearfulness  and  trembling  are  come  upon  me, 
and  horror  hath  overwhelmed  me." 

Ver.  23,  *'  But  Thou,  O  God,  shalt  bring  them  down  into 
the  pit  of  destruction  :  bloody  and  deceitful  men  shall  not 
live  out  half  their  days  ;  but  I  will  trust  in  Thee." 

CCVII.  My  Wanderings.  Ps.  Ivi.  8.  '' T/wu  tellesf  my 
wanderings :  put  Thou  my  tears  into  Thy  bottle:  are  they 
not  in  Thy  book  V 

This  verse  was  frequently  in  the  mouth  of  Archbishop 
Ussher,  who  was  driven  to  and  fro  through  England  and 
Ireland,  amid  the  troubles  and  changes  in  Church  and 
State.  He  was  one  of  the  best  and  most  learned  men  of 
his  time  ;  born  in  1580  in  Dublin,  he  died  at  Reigate,  in 
England,  in  1655,  and  was  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  for 
fifty-five  years. 

CCVIII.    An  Exemplary  Lady.    Ps.  Ivi.  8.    ''Put  Thou 
my  tears  into  Thy  bottle :  are  they  not  in  Thy  book?" 

There  is  an  old  MS.  of  a  sermon  preached  at  the  funeral 
of  the  Lady  May  Farewell,  at  Hill  Bishops,  near  Taunton, 
in  1660,  which  was  delivered  by  the  good  old  Puritan,  Mr. 
George  Newton.  The  Lady  Farewell  had  been  a  good 
friend  to  him,  and  he  was  always  welcomed  at  her  home. 
Part  of  the  discourse  runs  as  follows : — 

"  She  lived  not  in  pleasure,  but  in  a  strict  performance 
(not  of  the  easiest  only,  but)  of  the  hardest  and  severest 
private  duties,  and  in  diligent  attendance  of  the  publique 
ordinances  in  her  own  and  in  the  neighbour  congregations, 
under  which,  while  some  were  hardened,  she  melted,  and 
closely  dropt  many  a  silent,  secret  tear  (I  speake  it  upon 
good  assurance),  which,  though  she  covered,  God  observed 


I20  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

and  received  into  His  bottle.  Among  many  other  graces 
which  I  have  not  room  to  mention,  her  humility  was 
orient.  She  had  exactly  learned  Bernard's  golden  rule, 
which  he  illustrates  with  a  simile  :  '  As  he  that  goes  in  at 
a  little  low  door,  it  matters  not  how  much  he  stoops,  but 
if  he  beare  himself  one  inch  too  high,  he  is  in  danger'; 
so  she  regarded  not  how  low  she  stoopt,  nor  how  far  she 
condescended,  in  doing  any  office,  or  in  bearing  any 
burthen,  wherein  she  might  fulfil  the  law  of  love." 

CCIX.     Sin  against  God.     Ps.  Ivii.  4.     '* Against  Thee, 
Thee  07ily  have  I  sinned." 

Scott,  the  commentator,  was  bound  apprentice  to  a 
surgeon  at  Alford,  near  Brazloft,  after  he  left  school.  Here 
he  behaved  in  such  a  manner  that  his  master  dismissed 
him  at  the  end  of  two  months,  and  he  returned  home  in 
deep  disgrace.  He  says :  "  Yet  I  must  regard  this  short 
season  of  my  apprenticeship  as  always  the  choicest  mercies 
of  my  life.  My  master,  though  himself  irreligious,  first 
excited  in  my  mind  a  serious  conviction  of  sin  committed 
against  God.  Remonstrating  with  me  on  my  misconduct, 
he  said,  '  I  ought  to  recollect  that  it  was  not  only  dis- 
pleasing to  him,  but  wicked  in  the  sight  of  God.'  This 
remark  proved  the  primary  means  of  my  conversion." 

CCX.     A   Missionary    of   the   Seventh   Century. 
Ps.  Ix.  1-12. 

This  was  the  Psalm  sung  at  the  death  of  Cuthbert,  March 
20th,  ^Zy.  It  was  in  the  order  of  service.  This  missionary 
of  tlie  seventh  century  is  first  heard  of  as  a  shepherd 
boy  on  the  hills  of  Gala  Water,  then  known  as  Wedale. 
Arrested  by  the  religious  feeling  of  the  time,  he  settled 
first  in  Melrose  under  Boisil,  who  was  head  of  the  monastery. 
He  became  the  apostle  of  the  glens  of  the  south  of  Scot- 
land and  north  of  England,  and  retired  first  to  Lindisfarne, 
or  Holy  Island,  then  from  love  of  solitude,  which  was 
a  passion  of  the  age,  to  the  lonely,  storm-beaten  Feme 
Islands,  known  to  later  generations  through  the  heroism 
of  Grace  Darling.  Numerous  legends  have  gathered  round 
his  life,  and  the  wanderings  of  his  body  after  his  death,  till 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  121 

it  reached  its  present  resting-place  in  Durham  Cathcch-al, 
The  many  churclies  that  bear  his  name  between  the  Forth 
and  the  Tyne  arc  witnesses  to  the  estimate  of  his  work  ; 
and,  in  the  midst  of  growings  corruption  of  Christian  truth, 
and  the  conflicts  of  contending  races,  Saxon  and  Briton, 
Pict  and  Scot,  he  sowed  seed  which  took  vital  hold,  and 
sprang  up  in  after  ages.  The  account  of  his  death  has 
been  given  by  Bede,  who  received  it  from  Herefiid,  an 
eye-witness.  He  had  retired  to  one  of  the  Fcrne  Islands, 
and  was  known  to  be  dying.  A  company  of  his  brethren 
from  Lindisfarne  came  to  visit  him,  but  only  one  was 
admitted  to  his  death-bed.  Meanwhile  the  others  sang 
the  60th  Psalm.  When  Herefrid  came  out  and  announced 
his  death,  one  of  them  mounted  the  high  ground  above 
the  cell,  and  held  up  two  lighted  torches,  one  in  either 
hand,  a  preconcerted  signal  to  their  friends  in  the  Ploly 
Isle  that  Cuthbert  had  departed.  They  were  engaged  in 
singing  the  same  Psalm,  and  the  wail  was  carried  with  it 
across  the  sea. 

It  was  in  the  time  of  Cuthbert  that  the  Pictish  kingdom, 
after  a  great  victory  over  the  Saxons,  crossed  the  Forth, 
occupied  Edinburgh  and  the  Lothians,  and  so  made  way 
for  a  separate  nationality  in  the  North  of  Britain  which 
became  the  basis  for  an  independent  Scottish  Church,  the 
Church  of  Knox,  of  Melville,  and  of  the  Covenanting 
struggle. 

The  60th  Psalm  had  a  place  in  one  of  the  incidents  of 
that  history.  Robert  Douglas  gave  it  out  when  he  preached 
the  coronation  sermon  of  Charles  II.  at  Scone,  January  1st, 
165 1,  the  Marquis  of  Argyll  putting  the  crown  on  the  head 
of  the  ungrateful  monarch  who  afterwards  sent  him  to  the 
scaffold.  The  text  was  2  Kings  xi.  12,  17,  the  sermon 
very  long,  and  filled  with  unpalatable  and  uncourtly  truths. 
The  Covenanters,  intent  on  reconciling  loyalty  with 
liberty,  were  the  dupes  of  the  frivolous,  selfish  king  ;  but 
there  was  a  word  of  prophetic  insight  in  the  close  of  the 
sermon  when  the  preacher  quoted  Neh.  v.  13,  which  he 
said  had  been  done  before  in  the  East  Kirk  of  Edinburgh 
at  the  ratification  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant : 
"Also  I  shook  my  lap,  and  said,  So  God  shake  out  every 
man  from  His  house,  and  from  His  labour,  that  performeth 
not  this  promise,  even  thus  be  he  shaken  out,  and  emptied." 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


Thirty  years  of  broken  pledges  and  oppression    followed, 
but  the  threatening  was  made  good. 

The  same  Psalm  had  a  memorable  place  in  the  history 
of  the  Secession  Church  of  Scotland.  When  Ebenezer 
Erskine,  in  1740,  was  driven  from  his  church,  he  took  his 
place  with  an  immense  multitude  below  the  battlements 
of  Stirling  Castle,  and  sang  the  first  five  verses  of  this 
Psalm.  Looking  down  on  the  field  where  the  heroic 
Wallace  gained  a  decisive  victory  for  his  country,  the 
words  have  in  them  the  ring  of  battle, — 

"And  yet  a  banner  Thou  hast  oriven 
To  them  who  Thee  do  fear  ; 
That  it  by  tliem  because  of  truth 
Displayed  may  appear. 

"  That  Thy  beloved  people  may 
Delivered  be  from  thrall, 
Save  with  the  power  of  Thy  right  hand, 
And  hear  me  when  I  call" 

The  Psalm  of  his  friend  Wilson  of  Perth,  in  the  same 
circumstances,  had  a  quieter  tone  though  scarcely  less 
appropriate  :  Ps.  Iv.  6-%  and  12-14.  His  text  was  fittingly 
chosen,  Heb.  xiii.  13.  Both  of  these  leaders  were  chil- 
dren of  the  Covenanters.  When  the  Secession  and  Relief 
Churches  joined  in  1847,  in  Tanfield  Hall,  Edinburgh,  to 
form  the  United  Presbyterian  Church,  the  60th  Psalm  was 
again  sung,  and  with  it  Ps.  cxlvii.  1-3,  division  ending  in 
reconstruction, — 

"  God  doth  build  up  Jerusalem  ; 
And  He  it  is  alone 
That  the  dispersed  of  Israel 
Doth  gather  into  one." 

CCXI.      The     Morning    Song    of    the    Christian 

Church.     Ps.  Ixiii.  i-ii. 

As  early  as  the  third  century  this  was  the  morning  song 
of  the  Christian  Church. 

Ver.  6,  7.  In  the  life  of  Theodore  Beza  it  is  told  that, 
beginning  to  be  much  troubled  with  want  of  sleep,  he  be- 
guiled the  time  with  holy  meditations,  and,  speaking  to 
his  friends  of  it,  used  that  speech,  "  When  I  remember 
Thee  upon  my  bed,  and  meditate   on   Thee  in   the  night 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  123 

watches.  Because  Thou  hast  been  my  help,  therefore  in 
the  shadow  of  Thy  wings  will  I  rejoice."  And  also  Fs. 
xvi.  7,  "  My  reins  also  instruct  me  in  the  night  seasons." 


CCXII.      The   Lord's  Prayer  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment.    Ps.  Ixvii.  1-7. 

This  Psalm  has  been  called  by  the  ancient  expositors  "the 
Old  Testament  Lord's  Prayer."  It  has,  like  it,  seven  divi- 
sions. The  first  three  and  last  three  are  linked  by  a  longer 
one  in  the  middle,  and  the  third  and  fifth  are  in  the  same 
words.     It  is  by  special  distinction  the  missionary  psalm. 

In  the  year  1644  the  Corporation  of  London  invited  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  to  a  grand  banquet,  as  proof  of  the 
union  of  their  cause,  and  in  celebration  of  their  victory. 
The  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines  and  the  Scottish 
Commissioners  were  also  invited,  and  the  festival' was  after 
the  manner  of  that  of  Solomon  at  the  dedication  of  the 
temple.  Stephen  Marshall,  a  noted  preacher  of  the  day, 
selected  for  his  text  the  appropriate  words  i  Chron.  xii., 
last  three  verses  ;  and  the  spiritual  provision  seems  to  have 
reached  a  profusion  not  thought  of  in  public  feasts  of  our 
days.  Baillie  gives  a  full  description  of  the  rejoicings,  and 
tells  how  the  feast  ended  with  the  singing  of  the  67th 
Psalm,  Dr.  Burgess  reading  the  line,  that  all  might  take 
part,  "  a  religious  precedent,"  says  a  chronicler  of  the  time, 
"worthy  to  be  imitated  by  all  godly  Christians  in  both 
their  public  and  private  meetings." 


CCXIII.     The  Song  of  Battles.     Ps.  Ixviii.  1-35. 

As  the  sun  rose  from  the  German  Ocean  at  the  battle  of 
Dunbar,  September  3rd,  1650,  and  as  the  Scottish  army 
left  their  strong  position  on  the  heights  for  a  miserable 
defeat  in  a  wretched  cause,  Cromwell  pointed  to  the  sun 
with  the  opening  words,  "  Let  God  arise,  let  His  enemies 
be  scattered."  The  thanksgiving  psalm  sung  by  his  army 
on  the  field  was  the  117th,  known  afterwards  among  the 
Puritans  as  "the  Dunbar  Psalm." 

The  68th  Psalm  was  known  among  the  Huguenots  as 
"  the  song  of  battles,"  and  was  raised  by  them  in  many  a 


124  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

bloody  and  despairing  conflict.     It  often  seemed  to  fail, 
but  in  the  end,  and  in  the  highest  sense,  it  must  succeed. 

"  Que  Dieu  se  montre  seulement 
Et  I'on  verra  soiidainement 

Abandonner  la  place, 
Le  camp  des  ennemis  epars, 
Et  ses  haineux,  de  toutes  parts 

Fuir  devant  sa  face." 

CCXIV.     A    Mediaeval    Saint.     Ps.  Ixix.  i.     *^  Save  me ^ 
O  God ;  for  the  waters  are  come  in  unto  my  son/.'^ 

St.  Catherine  of  Sienna,  like  other  mediaeval  saints, 
considered  the  body  as  a  thing  to  be  crushed.  Her 
austerities  were  terrible.  She  deprived  herself  almost 
entirely  of  food,  and  for  many  of  the  last  years  of  her 
brief  life  seems  to  have  lived  on  a  iew  raw  vegetables  and 
the  sacred  wafer.  Three  times  a  day  she  scourged  herself 
with  an  iron  chain,  and  she  wore  a  spiked  chain  round  her 
loins.  She  denied  herself  natural  sleep,  passing  the  whole 
night  in  prayer,  till  the  matin  bell  of  St.  Dominic  rang 
out  clear  in  the  early  dawn,  when  she  would  lie  down  on 
her  bed  of  planks  for  an  hour's  repose,  satisfied  that  her 
brethren  were  carrying  on  the  eternal  hymn  of  love  and 
adoration.  No  wonder  that  her  poor  disordered  body 
became  the  seat  of  infernal  visions,  that  her  whole  life 
became  such  a  mingled  web  of  visions,  and  realities,  of 
truest  service  and  strangest  ecstasies.  Like  St.  Antony, 
she  cried,  "  Lord,  where  wert  Thou  when  my  heart  was  so 
troubled  ?  "  "  I  was  in  the  midst  of  thy  heart."  "  Ah, 
Lord,"  she  replied,  "  Thou  art  everlasting  Truth,  and  I 
humbly  bow  before  Thy  word  ;  but  how  can  I  believe  that 
Thou  wert  in  my  heart  when  it  was  filled  with  such  detest- 
able thoughts?"  Then  the  Lord  asked  her,  "  Did  these 
thoughts  give  thee  pain  or  pleasure  .'*  "  "  An  exceeding 
pain."  "  Thou  wast  in  woe  because  I  was  hidden  in  the 
midst  of  thy  heart  ;  My  presence  it  was  which  rendered 
these  thoughts  insupportable  to  thee." 

CCXV.     "My  Psalm."     Psalm  Ixxi.  1-24. 
This  was  in  his  old  age  the  favourite  psalm  of  the  Coven- 
anter Robert  Blair,  which  he  was  accustomed  to  call  "  my 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  125 

psalm."  The  Christian  Father  Origen  used  to  put  this 
same  claim  to  passages  of  the  Bible  which  came  home  to 
him — "  this  is  my  Scripture."  Robert  lilair  was  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  his  day  for  ability,  learning, 
and  piety.  He  had  in  his  early  years  a  successful  discus- 
sion with  Dr.  John  Cameron,  famous  as  a  scholar  in  France 
and  Scotland,  professor  in  Sauniur,  and  Principal  of  the 
University  of  Glasgow.  His  life  was  a  very  eventful  one. 
He  was  forced  to  take  refuge  from  persecution  in  Ireland, 
and  was  one  of  the  chief  founders  of  Presbyterianism  there. 
Still  pursued,  he  was  half-way  across  the  Atlantic  to  seek 
rest  in  New  England,  but  was  driven  back  by  storm  to 
continue  his  work.  He  died  in  1666,  near  Aberdour,  in 
Fife,  where  he  lies  buried. 

This  was  the  Psalm  asked  for  on  his  death-bed  by  Philip 
de  Morny,  known  as  Plessis  de  Morny,  a  man  of  illustrious 
family,  earnest  piety,  and  chivalrous  spirit,  who  cast  in 
his  lot  with  the  Plugucnots,  and  stood  by  them  in  every 
extremity.  Prayer  being  ended,  he  desired  they  would 
read  unto  him  the  71st  Psalm,  giving  testimony  of  the 
infinite  pleasure  which  he  took  in  it,  and  of  the  applica- 
tion he  made  for  his  own  consolation.  He  said  he  was 
persuaded  of  an  eternal  life  by  the  demonstration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  more  powerful,  more  clear,  and  more  certain 
than  all  the  demonstrations  of  Euclid,  repeating  two  or 
three  times  the  words  of  the  psalmist — cxvi.  10,  "I  believed, 
therefore  have  I  spoken." 


CCXVI.  Like  Jesus.  Ps.  Ixxii.  4.  ^^ He  shall  judge  the 
poor  of  the  people,  He  shall  save  the  children  of  the  needy,  aiid 
shall  break  in  pieces  the  oppressor" 

Mr.  Sherman  had  an  excellent  Christian  wife,  greatly 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  her,  and  especially  so  by  the 
poor.  A  lady  overheard  some  poor  women  speaking  of 
her.  "  There  she  is,"  said  one  of  them,  "  the  dear  creature  ; 
she  is  like  Jesus  Christ."  "  How  so.?"  asked  another.  "  I 
know  she  is  very  good  ;  but  why  is  she  like  Jesus  Christ } " 
"  Because,"  was  the  reply,  "she  never  despises  any  one,  and 
has  always  a  smile  and  a  kind  word  for  the  poor." 


126  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCXVII.     A    Word    of    Refreshing.     Ps.    Ixxiii.    i. 
"  Truly  God  is  good  to  Israeiy 

After  the  defeat  of  Montcontour,  as  they  were  carrying 
away  Coh'gny,  nearly  suffocated  by  the  blood  of  three 
wounds,  which  was  pouring  into  his  closed  visor,  an  old 
friend  of  his,  who  was  wounded  like  himself,  and  carried 
beside  him,  repeated  the  first  words  of  this  Psalm — 

"Si  est  ce  que  Dieu  est  tres  doux" — 

"  Truly  God  is  good  to  Israel."  The  historian  adds, 
"That  great  captain  confessed  afterwards  that  this  short 
word  refreshed  him,  and  put  him  in  the  way  of  good 
thoughts  and  firm  resolutions  for  the  future." 

Ver.  26,  "  My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth,"  was  the  last 
verse  on  which  the  thoughts  of  Charles  Wesley  rested. 
When  near  his  death,  he  called  his  wife  to  him  and  bade 
her  write  to  his  dictation.  He  died  as  he  had  lived.  It 
was  the  last  of  7000  hymns,  some  of  them  the  finest  in  the 
English  language,  which  had  flowed  from  his  heart  in  all 
the  turns  and  changes  of  life. 

"  In  age  and  feebleness  extreme, 
Who  shall  a  sinful  worm  redeem  ? 
Jesus,  my  only  hope  Thou  art, 
Strength  of  my  failing  flesh  and  heart. 
O  could  I  catch  a  smile  from  Thee, 
And  drop  into  eternity  ! " 


CCXVIII.     "  Notwithstanding  his  Talents."     Ps. 

Ixxiii.  22.    "  So  foolish  was  /,  and  ignorant :  I  was  as  a  beast 
before  Thee.'" 

On  one  occasion  Sir  David  Brewster  was  listening  to  a 
brief  memoir  of  a  man  of  science,  a  medical  man,  of  whom 
it  was  said  that  "  notwithstanding  his  high  talents  and  his 
great  literary  and  scientific  attainments,  he  received  Christ 
as  his  Saviour."  Brewster  interrupted  the  reader  with  an 
exclamation  of  vehement  disapproval.  ^' Notzvithstanding 
his  talents  !  That  disgusts  me,"  he  said.  "  A  merit  for  a 
man  to  bow  his  intellect  to  the  Cross!  Why,  what  can 
the  highest  intellect  on  earth  do  but  bow  to  God's  word 
and  God's  mind  thankfully  } " 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  127 

CCXIX.     The   Covenanters.     Ps.    Ixxiv.  10.     *'C>   God 
how  long  shall  the  adi'ersary  reproach  ?  " 

**  How  long,  Lord,  shall  the  enemy 

Thus  in  reproach  exclaim  ? 
And  shall  the  adversary  thus 

Always  blaspheme  Thy  name  ? 
Thy  hand,  even  Thy  ri;^ht  hand  of  might, 

Why  dost  Thou  thus  draw  back  ? 
O  from  Thy  bosom  pluck  it  out 

For  our  deliverance  sake." 

This  Psalm  was  sung  by  the  Covenanters  before  the  fight 
at  Pentland  (Rullion  Green),  November  28th,  1666.  Goaded 
by  oppression,  they  had  come  from  the  west  country  in 
arms  to  present  a  remonstrance  to  the  Government.  They 
approached  Edinburgh  in  the  hope  of  a  hearing,  and  of 
support  from  their  friends  there  ;  but  a  strong  force  had 
been  collected  to  overawe  them.  A  minute  and  interesting 
account  is  given  by  Veitch,  in  his  memoir,  of  the  retreat  of 
the  weary,  discouraged,  and  half-armed  remnant  by  Colin- 
ton,  and  along  the  east  side  of  the  Pentlands.  They  were 
intercepted  by  General  Dalziel,  through  a  pass  in  the  hills 
near  Glencorse,  and  sang  this  Psalm  before  the  action. 
They  made  a  brave  resistance,  successful  at  first,  but  were 
at  last  broken.  The  fugitives  were  slaughtered  with  great 
barbarity,  the  captured  shut  up  in  Greyfriars  churchyard, 
without  food  or  shelter,  numbers  executed  and  banished 
to  the  plantations.  The  graves  of  some  of  the  slain  may 
be  seen  on  the  hillside  where  they  fell,  and  a  monument 
which  has  faith  and  truth  in  its  lines  if  rude  in  rhyme  : — 

**  A  cloud  of  witnesses  lie  here, 

Who  for  Christ's  interest  did  appear  ; 

And  to  restore  true  liberty, 
,  O'erturned  then  by  tyranny, 

These  heroes  fought  with  great  renown, 

By  falling  got  the  martyr's  crown." 

CCXX.      Made    Perfect   through    Suffering.     Ps. 

Ixxiv.  16.      "  The  day  is  Thine,  the  night  also  is  ThineP 

Juliana  Horatia  Ewing,  the  favourite  writer  of  chil- 
dren's stories,  suffered  greatly  before  her  death.  She  was 
seldom  able  in  her  illness  to  concentrate  her  attention  on 
solid  works,  and  for   religious  exercise  chiefly  relied  on 


128  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

what  was  stored  in  her  memory.  She  liked  to  repeat  the 
alternate  verses  of  the  Psalms  when  the  others  were  read 
to  her.  After  one  night  of  great  suffering,  in  which  she 
had  been  repeating  George  Herbert's  poem,  "  The  Pulley," 
she  said  that  the  last  verse  had  helped  her  to  realize  what 
the  hidden  good  might  be  which  underlay  her  pain : — 

"  Let  him  be  rich  and  weaiy  :  that  at  least 
If  goodness  lead  him  not,  yet  weariness 
May  toss  him  to  my  breast." 

She  had  each  week  a  calendar  written  out,  with  a  text 
chosen  by  herself  at  the  top,  and  as  each  day  passed  it 
was  struck  through  by  her  pencil.  One  week  she  had,  "  In 
patience  possess  ye  your  souls."  For  the  text  of  another 
week  she  had,  "  Be  strong,  and  of  a  good  courage,"  as  the 
words  had  been  said  to  her  by  a  dear  friend  to  cheer  her 
just  before  undergoing  the  trial  of  an  operation.  Later 
still,  she  chose, — "The  day  is  Thine,  the  night  also  is 
Thine." 

CCXXI,     Earth's  Dark  Places.     Ps.  Ixxiv.  20.     ''The 
dark  places  of  t lie  earth  are  full  of  the  habitat  iofis  of  cruelty ." 

Infanticide  was  fearfully  common  among  the  Hawaiian 
islanders  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  We  are 
told  of  an  old  woman  who  was  seen  on  the  outskirts  of  a 
Sunday-school  celebration,  beating  her  breast  and  wailing. 
A  missionary  went  to  her,  and  said,  "  What  is  the  matter 
that  you  should  weep  over  such  a  beautiful  sight  .-*  You 
should  be  happy  to  see  such  a  sight,  for  you  can  remember 
when  things  were  very  different  among  our  people."  And 
the  poor  soul  cried  out  in  anguish,  "  Why  didn't  the  mis- 
sionaries come  before  "i  These  hands  are  stained  with  the 
blood  of  my  twelve  children,  and  not  one  of  my  flesh  to 
rejoice  here  to-day  !  "  And  again  she  wailed, — "  Oh,  why 
didn't  the  missionaries  come  before  ? " 

CCXXII.    Religion  a  Stepping-stone  to  Worldly 
Success.     Ps.  Ixxxiii.  3.     "  Thy  hidden  ones.'" 

God  has  many  hidden  ones.  The  following  extract  from 
the  will  of  the  late  distinguished  mathematician,  Professor 
De  Morgan,  will  serve  to  suggest  the  consoling  thought 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  129 

that  the  Hfc-long  faith,  which  so  happily  found  expression 
at  the  end  of  hfe,  may  have  existed  in  the  case  of  many 
other  reserved  and  conscientious  persons,  wliose  Hves  were 
hid  with  Christ  in  God,  though  they  died  and  made  no 
sign  : — "  I  commit  my  future  destiny,  with  hope  derived 
from  experience,  to  Ahnighty  God,  who  has  been  through 
my  hfe,  and  will  be  hereafter,  my  Guide  and  support  :  to 
God  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  whom  I 
believe  in  my  heart  that  God  has  raised  Him  from  the 
dead,  and  whom  I  have  not  confessed  with  my  mouth  in 
the  sense  usually  attached  to  these  words,  because  such 
confession  has  been,  in  my  time,  the  only  way  up  in  the 
world." 


CCXXIII.     A  Servant    Girl   at   the  Scaffold.     Ps. 

Ixxxiv.  4-12.     "  Blessed  are  they  that  dzvcll  in  Ihy  house." 

Marion  Harvey,  a  servant  girl  in  Borrowstounncss, 
twenty  years  of  age,  was  executed  at  Edinburgh  in  1681, 
for  hearing  Donald  Cargill,  and  for  helping  his  escape  at 
South  Queensferry.  When  annoyed  by  the  Bishop  on  the 
way  to  the  scaffold,  w^ho  wished  to  thrust  the  prayers  of 
his  curate  on  her  and  her  fellow-sufferer,  she  said,  "  Come, 
Isabel,  let  us  sing  the  23rd  Psalm,"  which  they  did  ;  and, 
having  come  to  the  scaffold,  and  sung  the  84th  Psalm,  she 
said,  "  I  am  come  here  to-day  for  avowing  Christ  to  be  the 
Head  of  His  Church  and  King  in  Zion.  Oh  seek  Him, 
sirs ;  seek  Him,  and  ye  shall  find  Him." 

Isabel  Alison,  who  suffered  with  her,  belonged  to  Perth, 
and  lived  very  privately  till  she  was  apprehended  for 
having  heard  Donald  Cargill,  and  for  refusing  the  test. 
On  the  scaffold  she  said,  "  Farewell  all  created  comforts. 
Farewell  sweet  Bible,  in  which  I  delighted  most,  and  which 
has  been  sweet  to  me  since  I  came  to  prison.  Farewell 
Christian  acquaintances.  Now  into  Thy  hands  I  commit 
my  spirit.  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost."  Whereupon  the 
hangman  threw  her  over. 

No  execution  of  tiiose  cruel  times  seems  to  have  excited 
a  deeper  interest  and  sympathy  throughout  the  country. 
Lord  Fountainhall,  a  judge  of  the  time,  twice  notices  their 
end,  and  tries  to  excuse  the  sentence.  In  his  "  Observes,'* 
he  says,  "There  were  hanged  at  Edinburgh  two  women  of 

K. 


I30  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

ordinary  rank  for  their  uttering  treasonable  words  and 
other  principles  and  opinions  contrary  to  all  our  government. 
They  were  of  Cameron's  faction.  At  the  scaffold,  one  of 
them  told,  so  long  as  she  followed  and  heard  the  curates, 
she  was  a  swearer,  Sabbath  breaker,  and  with  much 
aversion  read  the  Scriptures,  but  found  much  joy  upon  her 
spirit  since  she  followed  the  Conventicle  preaching." 

CCXXIV.      The  Brothers  De   Witt.     Ps.   Ixxxvi.    7. 
"  Iti  the  day  of  ?ny  trouble  I  will  call  upon  T/iee." 

The  Word  of  God  has  been  the  comfort  of  very  many  in 
the  prospect  of  sufferings  and  death.  We  are  told  of  the 
brothers  De  Witt,  the  renowned  Dutch  statesmen,  that 
when  their  assassins  found  them,  the  brothers  heard  them 
approach  without  alarm.  Cornelius  de  Witt,  broken  down 
by  the  agonies  of  torture,  was  lying  on  his  bed,  and  John 
was  seated  before  a  table  reading  the  Bible  to  his  brother, 
to  strengthen  him  against  the  fear  of  death  and  the  an- 
guish of  the  last  hour  of  life. 

CCXXV.  Deliverance  from  Evil.  Ps.  Ixxxvi.  13. 
"  For  great  is  Thy  mercy  toivard  me :  and  Ihou  hast  delivered 
my  soul  fro7n  the  lowest  hell." 

The  late  J.  H.  Evans,  of  St.  John's  Chapel,  London,  was 
in  early  youth  a  student  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford. 
This  College  was  notorious  as  gay  and  dissolute,  and  the 
men  there  sought  every  means  to  destroy  young  Evans. 
Speaking  after  the  manner  of  men,  their  success  was 
certain;  but  God  did  not  leave  him  to  himself  Conscience 
was  not  silent,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  most  hilarious 
scenes,  it  told  him  that  this  was  not  true  happiness  ;  and 
he  has  been  heard  to  tell  in  after  life,  that  when  the  last 
reveller  of  the  jovial  party  had  left,  he  has  often  looked 
round  on  the  vacant  seats  and  empty  glasses,  laid  his  head 
upon  the  table,  and  wept  bitterly.  A  great  check  applied 
to  him  to  keep  him  from  open  sin  was  the  power  of  a 
mother's  love.  Once,  led  on  by  designing  companions,  he 
was  induced  to  enter  a  place  of  peculiar  temptation  ;  but 
the  thought  of  his  mother's  distress  darted  into  his  mind, 
and  filled  him  with  indescribable  awe.     He  rushed  from 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  131 

the  house,  and  neither  raillery  nor  entreaty  could  ever  lead 
him  again  into  similar  temptation.  In  late  life  he  spent 
some  hours  in  Oxford,  and  went  over  his  old  College,  and 
sitting  in  Wadham  Gardens,  he  dwelt  on  the  scenes  he  had 
passed  through,  and  at  length,  with  deep  emotion,  repeated 
the  text,  "Great  is  Thy  mercy  towards  me  :  and  Thou  hast 
delivered  my  soul  from  the  lowest  hell." 

CCXXVI.  Never  be  too  Tired  to  Pray.  Ps.  Ixxxviii  9. 
"Lord,  I  have  called  daily  np07i  Thee,  I  have  stretched  out  my 
hands  unto  Thee." 

A  Mussulman,  when  on  a  journey,  was  joined  by  a 
Hindu,  and  the  two  marched  on  together  till  darkness 
overtook  them.  Passing  the  night  at  some  halting-place, 
they  resumed  their  journey  on  the  morrow,  travelled  in 
company  till  t4ie  day  wore  away,  and  again  halted  for  the 
night.  The  Hindu,  as  was  his  custom,  said  his  prayers, 
then  took  his  meal,  and  lay  down  to  rest.  In  the  early 
morning  he  arose,  washed  his  hands  and  face,  performed 
his  devotions,  and  was  ready  to  start.  But  he  had  not 
seen  his  companion  the  Mussulman  engaged  in  any  act  of 
devotion  for  the  two  days  they  had  been  together,  and  at 
this  he  wondered  greatly.  Wishful  to  ascertain  the  truth 
of  the  matter,  he  waited  for  a  third  night,  and  watched 
him  closely,  but  saw  and  heard  nothing  of  the  Mussulman's 
prayers. 

At  length,  addressing  his  fellow-traveller,  he  said  :  "  Oh, 
Mussulman,  what  kind  of  conduct  is  this  of  yours .-'  Do 
you  not  worship  God  day  or  night .'"' 

The  Moor  answered,  "  Yes,  it  is  binding  on  Mussulmans 
to  worship  God  five  times  a  day." 

"Then,"  said  the  Hindu,  "  what  sort  of  Mussulman  are 
you  ?  For  three  days  I  have  not  seen  you  say  your 
prayers." 

"  What  can  I  do  .?  "  answered  the  Moor.  "  I  am  march- 
ing along  all  day,  and  am  so  tired  that  I  cannot  pray." 

"  But,"  asked  the  Hindu,  "  are  you  too  tired  to  eat  twice 
a  day  .''  If  you  are  too  weary  to  serve  God,  your  Maker 
and  Provider,  I  am  afraid  to  journey  in  your  company. 
To  look  in  the  face  of  a  man  like  you  in  the  early  morning, 
will  bring  some  calamity  or  other  upon  me.     For  whoever 


132  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

is  too  listless  to  serve  God,  will  sooner  or  later  be  visited 
by  some  misfortune." 

Was  not  this  heathen  Hindu  traveller  wiser  than  many 
who  bear  the  Christian  name  ?  Let  us  learn  from  him  that 
we  must  never  be  too  tired  to  pray. 

CCXXVII.  "I  have  called  Thee  Father."  Ps.  Ixxxix. 

26.     "  He  shall  cry  unto  Me,  Thou  art  my  Fat  lie  r,  my  God, 
and  the  Rock  of  my  Salvation^ 

John  Woolman,  on  an  errand  of  mercy,  was  struck  down 
by  the  plague,  and  he  suffered  protracted  agonies. 

"  In  my  great  misery,"  he  cried  on  the  third  day,  "  I 
remember  that  I  have  called  Thee  Father!'  After  that  he 
had  great  stillness  and  peace.  Some  of  his  descendants 
still  preserve  a  manuscript  record,  kept  by  the  godly 
friends  who  nursed  him,  of  his  prayers  and  broken  words 
as  he  passed  through  the  last  days  of  torture.  They  are 
simple  and  tender  as  a  child  talking  to  a  father  in  the 
dark.  The  weak  body  yielded  at  last,  and  John  Woolman 
was  "  at  home." 

CCXXVIII,  God  the  Father  Almighty.  Ps.  Ixxxix. 
26.  "  Thou  art  my  Father,  my  God,  and  the  Rock  of  my 
Salvation." 

Luther  was  one  day  catechising  some  country  people  in 
a  village  in  Saxony.  When  one  of  the  men  had  repeated 
these  words,  "  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty," 
Luther  asked  him  what  was  the  meaning  of  "Almighty." 
The  countryman  honestly  replied,  "I  do  not  know."  "Nor 
do  I  know,"  said  the  catechist ;  "  nor  do  all  the  learned 
men  in  the  world  know.  However,  you  may  safely  believe 
that  God  is  your  Father,  and  fhat  He  is  both  able  and 
willing  to  save  and  protect  yourself  and  all  your  neighbours. 
Almighty  God  is  the  lovely  Father  of  mankind." 

CCXXIX.      "An    Hour    or   two    sooner   to  Bed." 

Ps.  xc.  1 2.     "  So  teach  us  to  munber  our  days,  that  we  may 
apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.'^ 

The  following  is  a  letter  from  Robert  Leighton  to  his 
brother-in-law,  Edward   Lightmaker,  a  "  word  of  comfort ' 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  133 

on  tlic  death  of  a  dear  son  ;  and  it  reveals  the  warmth  and 
tenderness  of  the  saintly  man.  When  his  brother-in-law 
died,  Lcighton  said,  as  he  returned  from  his  funeral,  "  Fain 
would  I  have  thrown  myself  into  the  grave  with  him." 

"  I  am  glad  of  your  health  and  recovery  of  your  little 
ones  ;  but  indeed  it  was  a  sharp  stroke  of  a  pen  that  told 
me  your  pretty  Johnny  was  dead  ;  and  I  felt  it  truly  more 
than,  to  my  remembrance,  I  did  the  deatli  of  any  child  in 
my  lifetime.  Sweet  thing,  and  is  he  so  quickly  laid  to 
sleep.''  Happy  he!  Though  we  shall  have  no  more  the 
pleasure  of  his  lisping  and  laughing,  he  shall  have  no  more 
the  pain  of  crying,  nor  of  being  sick,  nor  of  dying  ;  and 
hath  wholly  escaped  the  trouble  of  schooling  and  all  the 
sufferings  of  boys,  and  the  riper  and  deeper  griefs  of  riper 
years ;  this  poor  life  being  all  along  nothing  but  a  linked 
chain  of  many  sorrows  and  many  deaths.  Tell  my  dear 
sister  she  is  now  much  more  akin  to  the  other  world  ;  and 
this  will  quickly  be  passed  to  us  all.  John  is  but  gone  an 
Jiour  or  two  sooner  to  bed,  as  children  use  to  do,  and  we 
are  undressing  to  follow.  And  the  more  we  put  off  the 
love  of  this  present  world  and  all  things  superfluous  be- 
forehand, we  shall  have  the  less  to  do  when  we  lie  down." 

CCXXX.  Hidden  and  Safe.  Ps.  xci.  i.  ''He  that 
dwelleth  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High,  shall  abide  wider 
the  shadow  of  the  Almighty" 

One  morning  a  teacher  went,  as  usual,  to  the  schoolroom, 
and  found  many  vacant  seats.  Two  little  scholars  lay  at 
their  homes  cold  in  death,  and  others  were  very  sick.  A 
fatal  disease  had  entered  the  village,  and  the  few  children 
present  that  morning  at  school  gathered  around  the 
teacher,  and  said,  "  Oh,  what  shall  we  do  ?  Do  you  think 
we  shall  be  sick,  and  die  too?" 

She  gently  touched  the  bell  as  a  signal  for  silence,  and 
observed,  "  Children,  you  are  all  afraid  of  this  terrible 
disease.  You  mourn  for  the  death  of  our  dear  little 
friends  ;  and  you  fear  that  you  may  be  taken  also.  I  only 
know  of  one  way  of  escape,  and  that  is  to  hidey 

The  children  were  bewildered,  and  the  teacher  went  on  : 
"  I  will  read  to  you  about  this  hiding-place,"  and  read 
Psalm  xci. :  "  He  that  dwelleth  in  the  secret  place  of  the 


134  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Most  High  shall  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty." 
All  were  hushed  and  composed  by  the  sweet  words  of 
the  Psalmist,  and  the  morning  lessons  went  on  as  usual. 

At  noon  a  dear  little  girl  sidled  up  to  the  desk  and  said, 
"  Teacher,  are  you  not  afraid  of  the  diphtheria  ?  " 

"  No,  my  child,"  she  answered. 

"  Well,  wouldn't  you  be  if  you  thought  you  would  be 
sick  and  die  .'*  " 

"  No,  my  dear,  I  trust  not." 

Looking  at  the  teacher  for  a  moment  with  wondering 
eyes,  her  face  lighted,  as  she  said,  "  Oh,  I  know !  you  are 
hidden  under  God's  wings.     What  a  nice  place  to  hide !  " 

Yes,  this  is  the  only  true  hiding-place  for  old,  for  young, 
for  rich,  for  poor — for  all. 

Do  any  of  you  know  of  a  safer  or  a  better  .-• 

CCXXXI.    The  Lord  a  Sanctuary.    Ps.  xci.  2.    ''Iwiil 
say  of  the  Lord,  He  is  my  refuge.^' 

A  HEATHEN  could  say,  when  a  bird  (feared  by  a  hawk) 
flew  into  his  bosom,  "  I  will  not  betray  thee  unto  thine 
enemy,  seeing  thou  comest  for  sanctuary  unto  me."  How 
much  less  will  God  yield  up  a  soul  unto  its  enemy,  when 
it  takes  sanctuary  in  His  Name,  saying,  "  Lord,  I  am 
hunted  with  such  a  temptation,  dogged  with  such  a  lust  ; 
either  Thou  must  pardon  it,  or  I  am  damned  ;  mortify  it, 
or  I  shall  be  a  slave  to  it ;  take  me  into  the  bosom  of  Thy 
love,  for  Christ's  sake  ;  castle  me  in  the  arms  of  Thy  ever- 
lasting strength  ;  it  is  in  Thy  power  to  save  me  from,  or 
give  me  up  into,  the  hands  of  my  enemy ;  I  have  no  con- 
fidence in  myself  or  any  other  ;  into  Thy  hands  I  commit 
my  cause,  my  life,  and  rely  on  Thee."  This  dependence 
of  a  soul  undoubtedly  will  awaken  the  almighty  power  of 
God  for  such  a  one's  defence :  He  hath  sworn  the  greatest 
oath  that  can  come  out  of  His  blessed  lips,  even  by 
Himself,  that  such  as  "flee  for  refuge"  to  hope  in  Him 
shall  have  "strong  consolation." 

CCXXXII.  Heavenwards.  Ps.  xci.  15.  ^'He  shall  call  upo7i 
Me,  and  I  will  ansiver  Jam  :  I  ivill  be  with  him  in  trouble :  1 
will  deliver  him,  and  hotiour  him." 

A  PLEASURE  party,  made  up  of  a  family  and  some  friends, 


OLD  TESTAMEr^T  ANECDOTES.  135 

put  out  in  a  small  boat  to  an  island  a  little  distance  off. 
After  stayin£^  awhile  there,  they  all  put  out  a  short  distance 
seaward,  with  the  exception  of  one  lady  and  the  boatman's 
little  boy.  A  sudden  dense  fog  shortly  afterwards  fell, 
and  the  boat  tried  in  vain  to  make  its  way  back  to  the 
island.  After  beating  about  for  hours,  they  were  almost 
despairing,  when  they  thought  they  heard  the  faint  echoes 
of  a  childish  voice  calling  something.  Listening  intently, 
the  father's  quick  ear  recognised  the  voice  of  his  boy 
calling,  "  Steer  this  way,  father  ;  steer  this  way."  Guided 
by  the  sound  of  the  voice,  the  father  soon  locked  his  boy 
in  his  arms,  and  the  whole  party  rejoiced  in  deliverance 
from  their  peril. 

A  father  and  mother,  whilst  visiting  friends  in  England, 
heard  of  the  death  of  their  only  daughter,  in  New  York. 
Bitter  indeed  was  the  cup,  and  yet  amid  the  fogs  of  afflic- 
tion and  bereavement  the  voice  of  the  angel-child  calls 
from  the  battlements  of  the  jasper  walls,  "  Steer  this  way, 
father ;  steer  this  way."  And  following  the  well-known 
voice,  they  expect  to  lay  down  the  oars  of  life,  and  embrace 
their  child  on  the  shores  of  that  glorious  land  where  storms 
never  rise  and  foes  never  fall.  " 


CCXXXIII.  A  Prophecy  Fulfilled.  Ps.  xciv.  2.  ''Lift 
up  Thyself  Thou  Judge  of  the  earth :  render  a  reward  to  the 
proud." 

Mr.  Norman,  a  Nonconformist  minister,  was  brought 
before  Judge  Foster  for  trial  at  Taunton  Castle.  Joseph 
Alleine  was  tried  at  the  same  time  and  place.  The  judge 
treated  him  very  roughly,  and  poured  unmeasured  contempt 
on  other  Nonconformist  ministers.  Mr.  Norman  "  with 
great  gravity  told  him  that  their  learned  education  in  the 
university,  and  holy  calling  in  the  ministry,  not  stained 
with  any  unworthy  actic-n,  merited  good  words  from  his 
lordship,  and  better  usage  from  the  world."  This  simply 
enraged  the  judge,  and  after  another  tempest  of  invective, 
the  prisoner  said,  "  Sir,  you  must  ere  long  appear  before  a 
greater  Judge,  to  give  an  account  of  your  actions,  and  for 
your  railing  on  me,  the  servant  of  that  great  Judge." 

Perhaps  Mr.  Norman  saw  the  shadow  of  coming  death 
on  the  poor  old  judge's  face ;    but  when  the  judge  died 


136  OLD   TESTAMENT  AhECDOTES. 

suddenly  a  month  afterwards,  people  remembered  these 
words,  and  called  it  a  prophecy. 

CCXXXIV.     Silence.     Ps.  xciv.  17.     '' My  soul  had  almost 
dtoelt  ill  silence.''' 

Henry  Perreyoe,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  describes  with 
astonishment  the  life  of  the  Bernardine  Sisters,  whom  he 
had  visited  in  their  convent,  a  life  unequalled  for  the  rigour 
of  its  discipline,  even  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  The 
Bernardines  give  their  time  to  the  direction  of  fallen 
women  who  have  repented,  and  whose  highest  reward  is 
to  become  Bernardines  themselves  at  last.  They  live 
amongst  the  dreary  deserts  of  sand  that  stretch  along 
the  southern  coasts  of  France,  like  the  first  anchorites  in 
the  deserts  of  Africa.  They  eat  black  bread,  drink  water, 
and  never  speak — never.  A  sister  of  Chartreux  may  speak 
once  in  every  week,  a  Bernardine  is  silent  as  the  dead. 

CCXXXV.      Neptune's    Cup.     Ps.  xcv.  5.     '' The  sea  is 
His,  cfnd  He  made  it,  and  His  hands  formed  the  dry  la?id." 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  in  one  of  his  lectures,  spoke  of 
the  difficulty  of  believing  in  a  world  without  a  directing 
Mind,  and  used  the  following  beautiful  illustration  : — 

"Almost  imperceptible  creatures  in  the  sea  build  in  the 
Indian  Ocean  a  goblet.  It  is  called  'Neptune's  cup.' 
Sometimes  it  has  a  height  of  six  feet  and  a  breadth  of 
three.  It  is  erected  solely  by  myriads  of  polypi.  They 
have  no  consultation  with  each  other.  Each  works  in 
a  separate  cell ;  each  is  as  much  cut  off  from  communica- 
tion with  every  other  as  an  inmate  of  a  cell  in  the  wards 
of  Charlestown  prison  yonder  is  from  his  associates.  They 
build  the  stem  to  the  proper  height,  and  then  they  begin 
to  widen  it.  Everything  proceeds  according  to  a  plan. 
Is  the  plan  theirs,  or  does  it  belong  to  a  Power  above 
them,  and  that  acts  through  them  .^  As  these  isolated 
creatures  build  Neptune's  cup,  so  the  bioplasts,  isolated 
from  each  other  in  the  living  tissues  which  they  produce, 
build  the  rose  and  the  violet  and  all  flowers,  the  pome- 
granate and  the  cedar,  the  oak  and  palm  and  all  trees,  the 
eagle  and  all  birds,  the  lion  and  all  animals,  the  human 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  137 

brain  and  all  men.  Neptune's  cup  alone  strikes  us  dumb. 
But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  mystic  structures  built  by 
the  bioplasts  .-•  There  is  the  cup  ;  it  is  a  fact  ;  and  the  eye 
is  another  Neptune's  cup  ;  and  the  hand  another  Neptune's 
cup  ;  and  all  this  universe  is  another  Neptune's  cup  :  and 
out  of  such  cups  I,  for  one,  drink  the  glad  wine  of  Theism  !" 

CCXXXVI.       Deadness     of    Heart.     Ps.   xcv.    7,   8. 
"  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  His  voice,  harden  not  your  heart." 

An  intelligent  and  excellent  minister  was  once  called  to 
visit  a  man  then,  on  his  deathbed,  who  had  been  for  many 
years  engaged  in  the  African  slave-trade.  He  had  been  a 
commander  of  a  swift  and  successful  ship,  but  had  been 
often  compelled  to  throw  his  poor  captives  to  the  sharks 
and  the  sea  to  save  his  vessel  from  the  cruisers,  or  to 
lighten  it  in  the  storm  ;  and  had  passed  through  the  various 
terrible  scenes  incident  to  the  prosecution  of  that  infamous 
traffic.  And  now  he  was  dying,  in  the  full  maturity  of  his 
powers,  and  in  the  midst,  if  we  remember  rightly,  of 
pecuniary  prosperity  and  social  comfort.  The  m'inister 
spoke  to  him  of  repentance.  "Repentance!"  was  his 
reply,  "  I  cannot  repent !  You  have  seen  many  sorts  of 
men,  sir,  and  perhaps  you  think  you  have  seen  the  most 
wicked  and  desperate  among  them.  But  I  tell  you  that 
you  do  not  know  anything  about  an  African  slave-trader. 
His  heart  is  dead.  Why,  sir,  I  know  perfectly  well — I 
understand  it  fully — that  I  shall  die  in  spite  of  everything  ; 
and  I  know  that  I  shall  go  to  hell.  There  is  no  possible 
salvation  for  me.  It  is  perfectly  impossible  but  that  I  shall 
be  damned.  And  yet  it  don't  move  me  in  the  least.  I 
am  just  as  indifferent  to  it  as  ever  I  was  in  my  life."  And 
so  he  died,  with  despair  perfected  into  insensibility  and 
DEATH,  the  very  fires  of  Divine  wrath,  as  they  flashed 
U[)on  his  face,  not  starting  a  sigh  or  a  pulse  of  emotion. 
His  heart  was  "  DEAD  !  " 

It  is  fearful  to  think  that  in  all  sin  lies  the  tendency  to 
just  such  spiritual  death.  When  it  is  ripened  and  finished, 
it  brings  it  forth,  one  sin  leading  to  another,  and  that  to 
another,  and  these  to  others,  and  moral  insensibility  com- 
ing in  upon  the  soul,  and  all  crimes  becoming  possible  to 
it,  and   perfect  despair,  and  the  deadness  of  all  affection 


138  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

and  hope  at  last  engulfing  it — a  deadness  to  be  terribly 
consummated  and  rewarded  hereafter,  amid  the  gloom  of 
the  future,  and  beneath  the  punishments  of  God.  There  is 
an  old  fable  of  a  man  who  fell  asleep  in  a  Grecian  cavern  ; 
and  the  drops  from  above  continually  falling  upon  him, 
turned  him,  particle  by  particle,  into  coldness  and  rock  ; 
and  though  the  soul  still  lived,  it  could  not  use  or  move 
the  body.  And  so  the  influences  of  little  sins,  dropping  on 
us  continually,  the  influences  even  of  the  mere  worldliness 
that  is  all  about  and  over  us,  except  they  be  resisted, 
will  at  last  petrify  the  spirit.  They  harden  it  to  all  but 
the  consciousness  of  loss,  and  the  agony  of  remorse.  They 
may  leave  it  sensible  of  duty,  aware  of  doom,  but  unable 
to  flee  from  it. 

CCXXXVII.    The  Pilgrim  Fathers.    Ps.  c.  i.    ''Make 

a  joyful  fioise  unto  the  Lonl,  all  ye  lands." 

Let  us  look  into  the  magic  mirror  of  the  past,  and  see  the 
harbour  of  Cape  Cod  on  the  morning  of  the  nth  of  No- 
vember, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1620,  as  described  to  us  in 
the  simple  words  of  the  Pilgrims  :  "A  pleasant  bay,  circled 
round,  except  the  entrance,  \fhich  is  about  four  miles  over 
from  land  to  land,  compassed  about  to  the  very  sea  with 
oaks,  pines,  junipers,  sassafras,  and  other  sweet  weeds.  It 
is  a  harbour  wherein  a  thousand  sail  of  ship  may  safely 
ride." 

That  small,  unknown  ship  was  the  Mayjlozvcr :  those 
men  and  women  who  crowded  her  decks  were  that  little 
handful  of  God's  own  wheat  which  had  been  flailed  by 
adversity,  tossed  and  winnowed  till  every  husk  of  earthly 
selfishness  and  self-will  had  been  beaten  away  from  them 
and  left  only  pure  seed,  fit  for  the  planting  of  a  new  world. 
It  was  old  Master  Cotton  Mather  who  said  of  them,  "  The 
Lord  sifted  three  countries  to  find  seed  wherewith  to  plant 
America." 

Hark  now  the  hearty  cry  of  the  sailors,  as  with  a  plash 
and  a  cheer  the  anchor  goes  down,  just  in  the  deep  water 
inside  of  Long  Point  !  and  then,  says  their  journal :  "  Being 
now  passed  the  vast  ocean  and  sea  of  troubles,  before  their 
preparation  unto  further  proceedings  as  to  seek  out  a  place 
for  habitation,  they  fell  down  on  their  knees  and  blessed 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  139 

the  Lord,  the  God  of  heaven,  who  had  brouc^ht  them  over 
the  vast  and  furious  ocean,  and  dch'vered  them  from  all 
perils  and  miseries  thereof." 

Let  us  draw  nigh  and  mingle  with  this  singular  act 
of  worship.  Elder  Brewster,  with  his  well-worn  Geneva 
Bible  in  hand,  leads  the  thanksgiving  in  words  which, 
though  thousands  of  years  old,  seem  as  if  written  for  the 
occasion  of  that  hour. 

As  yet,  the  treasures  of  sacred  song  which  are  the  liturgy 
of  modern  Christians  had  not  arisen  in  the  Church.  There 
was  no  Watts  and  no  Wesley  in  the  day  of  the  Pilgrims  ; 
they  brought  with  them  in  each  family,  as  the  most  precious 
of  earthly  possessions,  a  thick  volume  containing,  first,  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  with  the  Psalter  appointed  to  be 
read  in  churches  ;  second,  the  whole  Bible  in  the  Geneva 
translation,  which  was  tlie  basis  on  which  our  present 
English  translation  was  made  ;  and  third,  the  Psalms  of 
David,  in  metre,  by  Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  with  the 
music  notes  of  the  tunes  adapted  to  singing.  Therefore  it 
was  that  our  little  band  were  able  to  lift  up  their  voices 
together  in  song,  and  that  the  noble  tones  of  Old  Hundred 
for  the  first  time  floated  over  the  silent  bay  and  mingled 
with  the  sound  of  winds  and  waters,  consecrating  the 
American  shores. 

"  All  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell, 

Sing  to  the  Lord  with  cheerful  voice, 
Him  serve  with  fear,  His  praise  forth  tell ; 
Come  ye  before  Him  and  rejoice. 

The  Lord,  ye  know,  is  God  indeed  ; 

Without  our  aid  He  did  us  make  ; 
We  are  His  flock,  He  doth  us  feed. 

And  for  His  sheep  He  doth  us  take. 

O  enter  then  His  gates  with  praise, 
Approach  with  joy  His  courts  unto  : 

Praise,  laud,  and  bless  His  name  always, 
For  it  is  seemly  so  to  do. 

For  why  ?     The  Lord  our  God  is  good, 

His  mercy  is  for  ever  sure  ; 
His  truth  at  all  times  hrmiy  stood, 

And  shall  from  age  to  age  endure." 

This  grand  h)'mn  rose  and  swelled  and  vibrated  In  the 
still  November  air  ;  while  in  between  its  pauses  came  the 


140  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

warble  of  birds,  the  scream  of  the  jay,  the  hoarse  call  of 
hawk  and  eagle,  going  on  with  their  forest  ways  all  un- 
mindful of  the  new  era  which  had  been  ushered  in  with 
those  solemn  sounds. 

CCXXXVIII.     Signs  of  Death.     Ps.  cii.  20.     ''To  hear 

,  the  groaning  of  the  prisoner." 

A  MAN  was  in  great  distress  about  his  soul  ;  he  thought  he 
was  lost,  could  never  be  saved,  and  he  was  in  despair.  He 
set  off  to  a  good  old  Christian  who  lived  in  the  town,  and 
told  him  all  his  heart,  and  finished  with  these  words: 
"  Now,  David,  I'm  dead — quite  dead."  "  Well,  Jamie,"  said 
the  old  man,  "  go  away  home  and  pray.  Ye're  no  dead  yet. 
No,  no ;  there's  nae  groans  comes  frae  the  grave." 

Groans  over  deadness   and  coldness    felt  are    not  alto- 
gether signs  of  death. 

CCXXXIX.  A  Martyr  for  Christ.  Ps.  ciii.  i.  "  Bless 
the  Lord,  O  viy  soul :  and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless  His 
holy  name." 

During  the  persecution  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  one 
of  the  martyrs  was  fastened  with  a  chain  to  a  post  in  the 
Smithfield  Market  of  London,  and  when  the  wood  piled 
about  him  was  lighted,  and  the  fire  burning  his  clothes  and 
frizzling  his  flesh,  he  cried,  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul  : 
and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless  His  holy  name." 

CCXL.        Blessing     the     Lord     in      the      Depth 

of    Sorrow.     Ps.   ciii.    i.     "Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul : 
and  all  that  is  within  me,  bless  ILis  holy  name." 

The  value  and  beauty  of  family  worship  in  the  time  of  be- 
reavement are  illustrated  by  an  incident  in  the  life  of  the 
Rev.  J.  A.  James,  which  has  almost  a  touch  of  the  sublime. 
It  was  his  custom  to  read  at  family  prayer  on  Saturday 
evening  the  hundred  and  third  psalm.  On  the  Saturday 
of  the  week  in  which  Mrs.  James  died,  he  hesitated,  with 
the  open  Bible  in  his  hand,  before  he  began  to  read  ;  but, 
after  a  moment's  silence,  he  looked  up  and  said,  "  Not- 
withstanding what  has  happened  this  week,  I  see  no  reason 
for  departing  from  our  usual  custom  of  reading  the  hundred 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  141 

and  tliird  psalm — 'Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul:  and  all  that 
is  within  me,  bless  His  iioly  name.'"  What  must  be  the 
effect  upon  a  household  of  such  a  scene  !  What  a  picture 
is  thus  presented  of  holy  resignation  and  thankfulness — 
the  greatest  sufferer  recognising,  as  the  head  of  the  family, 
the  hand  that  has  smitten  his  home  and  made  it  desolate, 
and  in  the  depth  of  his  sorrow  blessing  the  name  of  the 
Lord ! 

CCXLI.  Grace  should  Permeate  the  Entire 
Man.  Ps.  ciii.  i.  "^//  that  is  within  me,  bless  His  holy 
jiaine." 

In  the  camphor  tree  every  part  is  impregnated  with  the 
precious  perfume  ;  from  the  highest  twig  to  the  lowest 
root  the  powerful  gum  will  exude.  Thus  grace  should 
permeate  our  whole  nature,  and  be  seen  in  every  faculty, 
every  word,  every  act,  and  even  every  desire.  If  it  be  "in 
us  and  abound,"  it  will  be  so.  An  unsanctified  part  of  our 
frame  must  surely  be  like  a  dead  branch,  deforming  and 
injuring  the  tree.  "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul  :  and  all 
that  is  ivithin  me,  bless  His  holy  name."  When  praise  is 
truly  spiritual,  it  pervades  the  whole  man. 

CCXLII.     Old  Age.     Ps.  ciii.  5.     "  Who  satisfieth  thy  mouth 
with  good  things  ;  so  that  thy  youth  is  renewed  like  the  eagle'si" 

John  Foster  has  a  stirring  passage  in  one  of  his  sermons 
on  old  age  :  — 

"  The  old  age  of  the  wise  and  good  resembles  the  winter 
in  one  of  its  most  favourable  circumstances,  that  the  former 
seasons  improved  have  laid  in  a  valuable  store  ;  and  they 
have  to  bless  God  that  disposed  and  enabled  them  to  do 
so.  But  the  most  striking  pcjint  in  the  comparison,  after 
all,  is  one  of  unlikoicss.  Their  winter  has  no  spring  to 
follow  it — in  this  world.  It  is  to  close,  not  by  an  insensible 
progression  into  summer  season,  but  by  a  termination 
absolute,  abrupt,  and  final  ;  a  consideration  which  should 
shake  and  rouse  the  most  inveterate  insensibility  of 
thoughtless  old  age.  But  the  servants  of  God  will  say  : 
*  That  is  well  ! '  They  would  not  make  a  gradation  into 
a    spring  of  moral  existence  if  it  could  be  put  in   their 


142  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

choice.  Their  winter,  they  say,  is  quite  the  right  time  for 
a  great  transition.  It  was  in  nature's  winter  (or  toward 
that  season)  that  their  Lord  came  to  the  earth  ;  it  was  in 
the  winter  that  He  died  for  their  redemption  ;  and  the 
winter  of  their  Hfe  is  the  right  time  for  them  to  die,  tliat 
their  redemption  may  be  finished.  And  there  is  eternal 
spring  before  them  !  What  will  tJiey  not  be  contemplating 
of  beauty  and  glory,  while  those  who  have  yet  many  days 
on  earth  are  seeing  returning  springs  and  summers  .■'  " 

CCXLIII.      A  Lover    of  the    Psalms.     Ps.  civ.  34. 
"  My  j}ieditatio7i  of  Him  shall  be  sweet." 

Thomas  A  Kempis  was  supremely  happy  in  his  convent 
life.  He  spent  much  time  in  striving  to  soar  above  the 
things  of  sense  into  communion  with  God  ;  and  this  not 
without  the  occasional  application  to  his  flesh  of  the  scourge. 
He  could  not  have  survived,  however,  to  the  great  age  of 
ninety-one,  if  his  bodily  mortifications  had  been  fanatical 
and  excessive.  The  Holy  Scripture  was  much  in  use  by 
him,  and  he  transcribed  it  from  beginning  to  end,  in  four 
beautifully  written  volumes,  which  were  long  preserved 
in  the  monastery,  as  a  memorial  of  his  pious  diligence. 
Especially  did  he  love  the  Psalms,  and  join  in  chanting 
them  with  all  his  heart.  His  fellow  monks,  accordingly, 
perpetrated  a  miserable  joke  upon  him,  which  is  preserved, 
by  honest  Franciscus,  to  the  honour  certainly  of  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  and  to  the  letting  in  of  a  curious  light  on 
the  character  and  tastes  of  his  companions  at  Mount 
St.  Agnes,  which  were  plainly  of  an  earthlier  sort.  "  He 
is  as  fond  of  the  Psahnsl'  they  said,  "as  if  they  were 
sahnonl'  which,  as  Brother  Franciscus  adds  within  brackets 
for  the  information  of  the  ignorant  reader,  "  is  a  most 
delicate  kind  of  fish ! "  Brother  Franciscus  says  that 
there  existed  in  his  time  a  portrait  of  Thomas  a  Kempis, 
almost  wholly  eff"aced  from  the  canvas,  but  with  this 
characteristic  inscription  legible  still,  "  Everywhere  have  I 
sought  rest  but  nowhere  have  I  found  it,  unless  in  solitude 
and  books  {in  Hoexkens  ende  Boexkens^"  He  found  it 
there,  because  in  his  solitude  and  among  his  books,  he 
found  and  communed  with  the  Lord,  in  whom  he  rested, 
on  whom  he  meditated,  and  of  whom  he  wrote. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  143 

CCXLIV.     A   Patriot.     Ps.  cv.  26.      ''He  sent  Moses  hh 

servant^ 
Pkesicnting  a  noble  contrast  to  the  proverb  lonc^  common 
in  \Vc\\y,  Dolce  far  niente,''\t\s  sweet  to  indulge  in  idle- 
ness," the  old  Roman  sang,  Duke  et  deconini  pro  patria 
inori,  "It  is  sweet  and  graceful  to  die  for  one's  country;" 
and  one  of  these  old  Romans  is  said,  when  it  was  only  by  such 
a  sacrifice  that  Rome  could  be  spared,  to  have  rode  out  of 
its  gates  full  armed  in  sight  of  weeping  thousands,  and 
taking  brave  farewell  of  brothers,  friends,  and  countrymen,  to 
have  spurred  his  steed  into  the  gulf  that  closed  its  mon- 
strous jaws  on  horse  and  rider.  The  lofty  patriotism  of 
the  poet  may  be  only  the  sentimentalism  of  song,  and  the 
hero  of  the  gulf  only  such  a  fable  as  adorns  traditionary 
lore.     But  Moses  was  a  patriot  of  that  type. 

How  we  extolled  the  conduct  of  the  Americans  in  China, 
when,  though  not  bound  to  mingle  in  the  bloody  fray, 
they  felt  it  impossible  to  look  on,  mere  spectators,  where 
our  flag  was  flying,  and  our  guns  were  flashing,  and  our 
men  were  falling  amid  the  smoke  of  battle  !  "  Blood  is 
thicker  than  water  I  "  It  was  in  such  another  act  that 
Moses'  patriotism  first  burst  out  into  flame.  Neither  his 
rank  as  the  adopted  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter  and  probable 
successor  to  her  father's  throne,  nor  his  education  as  a 
prince  of  Egypt,  nor  the  pride,  and  pomp,  and  pleasures 
of  a  palace  had  made  him  ashamed  of  his  race,  or  in- 
different to  their  cruel  sufferings.  In  the  words  of  St.  Paul, 
"  By  faith  Moses,  when  he  was  come  to  years,  refused  to 
be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter  ;  choosing  rather 
to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season  ;  esteeming  the  reproach 
of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt. 

CCXLV.  A  Besieged  Town.  Ps.  cvii.  i.  Ogive 
thanks  u7ito  the  Lord^  Jar  He  is  good :  for  His  mercy  endureih 
for  ever." 

In  the  year  1642  Taunton  was  besieged  by  the  Royalist 
forces.  It  was  defended  by  heroic  steadfastness  by  Robert 
Blake.  When  food  had  risen  to  twenty  times  its  market- 
value,  when  many  of  the  inhabitants  had  died  of  starvation, 
when  half  the  streets  had  been  burnt  down  by  a  storm  of 


144  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

rockets  and  mortars,  the  defenders  still  held  their  ground, 
and  Blake  announced  to  the  besiegers  his  grim  resolve 
not  to  surrender  "until  he  had  eaten  his  boots."  At  last,  in 
July,  1645,  the  besiegers  were  obliged  to  withdraw.  Many- 
sermons  were  preached  on  the  occasion  of  the  anniversary 
of  the  town's  deliverance.  In  one  preached  before  Par- 
liament, the  preacher  said  : — 

"  O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  is  gracious  :  and  His  mercy 

endureth  for  ever  : 
Who  remembered  us  at  Naseby,  for  His  mercy  endureth  forever; 
Who  remembered  us  in  Pembrokeshire,  for  His  mercy  endureth  for 

ever  ; 
Who  remembered  us  at  Taunton,  for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever." 


CCXLVI.     The  Pale  Horse.     Ps.  cvii.   18.     They  draw 
near  v7ito  the  gates  of  deaths 

The  following  is  a  closing  passage  of  a  sermon  on  death 
by  Dawson.  The  preacher  has  been  speaking  of  those  to 
whom  the  blow  of  the  rider  on  the  pale  horse  brings  no 
terror.  The  Christian  sees  his  Father's  servant  on  his 
Father's  pale  horse,  and  he  knows  he  has  been  sent  for  to 
come  home.  And  he  closed  his  sermon  with  this  passage : 
"  I  well  remember  the  time  when  the  pale  horse  and  his 
rider  approached  Sammy  Hick,  '  the  village  blacksmith.' 
He  was  nearer  to  him  than  I  thought  him  to  be.  I  was 
with  him  on  the  Wednesday,  and  he  died  upon  the  Monday. 
The  pale  horse  overtook  him  on  the  Monday.  There  was 
a  young  man  said  on  Sunday  night  (he  did  not  sleep  with 
him,  but  watched  with  him)  that  such  a  night  he  did  not 
expect  to  see  again.  They  were  singing  and  praising  God  ; 
and  he  said  the  place  seemed  filled  with  the  glory  of  God. 
The  pale  horse  and  his  rider  approached,  and  poor 
Sammy's  speech  began  to  falter  and  his  breath  to  fail. 
But,  glory  be  to  God,  he  was  not  afraid  of  seeing  the  pale 
horse  at  all.  No  ;  it  was  joy,  and  peace,  and  love.  Two  or 
three  neighbours  came  in,  and  thought  they  would  sing 
him  over  the  river.  And  when  all  the  power  of  language 
failed, 

'Joy  beaming  through  his  eyes  did  break, 
And  meant  the  thanks  he  could  not  speak.' 

They  saw  his  eyes  sparkle ;  they  saw  the  joy  of  his  soul 


OLD   I'ESIAMKNT  ANECDOTES. 


as  he  went  along,  and  the  thanks  he  could  not  speak. 
And  just  before  he  took  his  last  step  out  of  time  into 
glory,  tiie  poor  soldier  waved  his  hand,  crying,  "Victory! 
victory  ! 


) )( 


CCXLVII.     The   little  Ships   and  the  great    Sea. 

Ps.  cvii.  23.     '■'■Tlh-y  that  go  down  to  t/ie  sea  iti  ships,  that  do 
business  in  great  icaters." 

The  following  is  tiie  prayer  of  the  Breton  fishers  :  "  Mon 
Dieu,  protegez  moi — mon  navire  est  si  petit,  et  votre  mer 
est  si  grande  "  (My  God,  protect  me — my  ship  is  so  little, 
and  Your  sea  is  so  great.) 

O  God  !  my  ship  is  small,  Thy  sea  so  wide, 

How  shall  I  sail  across  in  bark  so  frail  ? 

What  may  my  oars  ai^ainst  its  waves  avail,  ««• 

Or  can  I  ever  reach  the  farther  side, 

If  any  shore  bound  that  unmeasured  tide? 

O  endless  waves  !   O  feeble  quivering  sail  ! 

O  great  Eternity  !  I  faint  and  fail, 

And  dare  not  go,  and  may  not  here  abide  : 

My  bark  drives  on,  whither  I  do  not  know. 

My  God  !  remember  me,  that  1  am  dust — 

The  way  is  too  far  for  me,  when  I  go  ; 

Yet  will  I  leave  the  land  and  trembling  trust. 

Thou  who  ciidst  walk  on  stormy  Galilee, 

Let  me  not  sink  in  Thine  unfathomed  sea  ! 

CCXLVIII.  Timely  Succour.  Ps.  cvii.  43.  «  Whoso 
is  7vise,  and  will  observe  these  things,  even  they  shall  wider- 
stand  the  lovingkindness  of  the  Lord." 

ScOTT,  the  commentator,  suffered  from  frequent  attacks 
of  illness,  and  after  one  long  and  dangerous  sickness, 
which  had  occasioned  heavy  additional  expenses,  he  found 
himself  in  debt  to  the  amount  of  ;i^io.  His  wife,  though 
seldom  distrusting  Providence,  lamented  this  exceedingly. 
His  answer  was  the  following  :  "Now  observe  if  the  Lord 
do  not,  in  some  way,  send  us  an  additional  supply  to  meet 
this  expense,  which  it  was  not  in  our  power  to  avoid."  He 
goes  on  to  relate  how,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day, 
when  visiting  his  people,  Mr.  Higgins  called  at  his  house, 
and  left  a  paper,  which,  he  said,  would  entitle  me  to  ^10 
from  the  sum  of  money  left  for  the  relief  of  poor  clergy- 
men.    This  relief  he  had  never  before  received.     "  Whoso 

L 


146  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

is  wise  will  ponder  these  things,  and  they  shall  understand 
the  lovingkindness  of  the  Lord." 

CCXLIX.     The  iigth  Psalm.     Ps.  cxix. 

John  Ruskin  says  that  of  all  the  pieces  of  the  Bible 
which  his  mother  taught  him,  that  which  cost  him  most  to 
learn,  and  which  was  to  his  child's  mind  chiefly  repulsive — 
the  1 19th  Psalm — has  now  become  of  all  the  most  precious 
to  him,  in  its  overflowing  and  glorious  passion  of  love  for 
the  law  of  God. 

CCL.     Don't   use    a    Crooked    Ruler.      Ps.  cxix.    9. 

"  Wherewithal  shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  1  by  taking 
heed  thereto  according  to  Thy  word.^^ 

"  The  Bible  is  so  strict  and  old-fashioned,"  said  a  young 
man  to  a  grey-haired  friend,  who  was  advising  him  to 
study  God's  Word  if  he  would  learn  how  to  live.  "  There 
are  plenty  of  books  written  now-a-days  that  are  moral 
enough  in  their  teaching,  and  do  not  bind  one  down  as  the 
Bible." 

The  old  merchant  turned  to  his  desk,  and  took  out  two 
rulers,  one  of  which  was  slightly  bent.  With  each  of 
these  he  ruled  a  line,  and  silently  handed  the  ruled  paper 
to  his  companion. 

"  Well,"  said  the  lad,  "  what  do  you  mean?  " 
"  One  line  is  not  straight  and  true,   is  it  ?     When  you 
mark  out  your  path  in  life  do  not  take  a  crooked  ruler  ! " 

CCLI.  Hiding  the  Bible  in  the  Heart.  Ps.  cxix. 
II.  "  Thy  word  have  I  hid  in  my  heart,  that  T  tnight  not 
sin  against  Thee." 

The  late  excellent  Rev.  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander  was, 
in  many  respects,  a  model  Christian  man  and  minister. 
One  important  secret  of  it  lay  in  some  of  his  habits.  One 
of  these  was  that  of  taking,  every  morning,  a  verse  or 
passage  from  the  Bible  for  his  meditation  during  the  day, 
and  with  the  view,  he  said,  of  having  his  entire  life  filled 
with  its  spirit  and  influence.  David  said  to  God:  "Thy 
word  have  I  hid  in  my  heart,  that  I  might  not  sin  against 
Thee." 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ASECDOTES.  147 

CCLII.  Pulpit  Reflectors.  Ps.  cxix.  46.  "/  tvill 
speak  of  Thy  testimonies  also  before  ki/igs^  and  will  not  be 
ashamed." 

The  eminent  Lyman  Beecher  used  to  say  that  the  reason 
why  his  ministry  was  so  blessed  to  the  salvation  of  men, 
was  that  he  had  so  many  pulpit  reflectors  in  the  Christians 
who  lived  out  and  di (fused  in  every  practical  way  the 
gospel  which  he  proclaimed.  A  light  placed  alone  scatters 
its  beams  on  every  hand,  but  a  number  of  well-placed 
reflectors  can  concentrate  and  reflect  its  rays,  and  cause 
them  to  reach  places  where  the  direct  rays  of  light  would 
never  go  ;  so  these  pulpit  reflectors,  these  Christians  who 
take  the  gospel  up  in  their  lives,  and  who  talk  it,  and  act 
it,  and  live  it  from  day  to  day,  multiply  the  preacher's 
usefulness  a  hundredfold,  and  carry  down  into  the  deep 
and  hidden  corners,  where  sin  and  darkness  lurk,  those 
beams  of  light  which,  without  their  aid,  would  never  reach 
the  souls  that  sit  in  the  shadow  of  death. 

We  need  more  pulpit  reflectors.  Let  the  ministers  of 
the  gospel  preach  with  all  fidelity,  and  then  let  the 
Christians  on  every  hand  take  up  the  words  of  life  which 
he  proclaims,  and  reflect  and  re-echo  them,  and  bear  them 
to  the  souls  which  walk  in  darkness,  and  yet  long  to 
behold  God's  marvellous  light,  even  the  light  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  glory  of  God,  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 

CCLIII.      About    to     Migrate.      Ps.    cxix.    54.     ^'- The 
house  of  my  pilgrimaged 

We  are  told  that  the  late  authoress  Juliana  Horatia 
Ewing  had  hung  over  her  hearth  the  motto:  "  Ut  migra- 
turus  habita"  (As  one  about  to  migrate),  to  temper  her 
joys  in  the  comforts  of  home,  and  to  remind  her  that 
"  here  have  we  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to 
come." 

CCLIV.     The    Decision    of  a    Moment.     Ps.   cxix. 

59.     "/  thought  oil  jny  7vays,  and  turned  my  feet  unto  Thy 
testimonies" 

At  an  unlooked-for  moment  we  may  decide  the  whole 
course  of  our  lives   settling  the  question  of  for  Christ  or 


148  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

against  Christ.  A  yoiin<T-  man  in  Oakland,  Cal,  was 
walking  with  a  friend.  "  Lci's  go  to  a  saloon,"  said  the 
friend.  Just  then  the  young  man  looked  up  and  saw  on 
a  sign,  "Young  Men's  Christian  Association."  "No,  I'll 
go  up  here,"  was  the  reply.  "  Oh,  you  baby  ! "  sneered 
his  companion  ;  but  he  went  up,  and  that  step  led  to  his 
giving  himself  to  God  and  entering  on  the  Christian  life. 
But  how  about  him  who  kept  on  his  way  in  the  life  of 
sin  ? 

CCLV.      The     Mellowing    Power     of    Affliction. 

Ps.  cxix.  83.      "  For  I  am  become  like  a  bottle  i?i  the  smoke.'" 

It  was  a  custom  of  the  ancients  to  hang  skins  of  wine 
in  the  smoke  of  a  fire  to  refine  and  mellow  it  by  the 
warmth,  and  so  the  sooner  to  bring  it  to  perfection.  So 
the  Psalm i.st  says  "  that  is  what  God  has  put  me  in  the 
furnace  of  trial  for,  to  refine  me." 

CCLVI.      Persecution.      Ps.  cxix.  86.      ^^  They  persecute 
me  7urojigfiilly  ;  help  Thou  inc." 

The  pious  Romaine,  the  well-known  author  of  the 
•'  Triumph  of  Faith,"  suffered  much  for  the  truth's  sake. 
What  a  picture  is  presented  of  the  solitary  witness  of 
the  truth,  when  we  are  told  that,  in  his  own  Church  of  St. 
Dunstan's  at  Aberford,  he  had  often  to  preach  by  the  light 
of  a  single  candle,  whicJi  he  held  in  his  hand,  as  the  church- 
wardenswould  neither  light  the  church  nor  suffer  it  to  be 
lighted  ! 

CCLVII.       "The     Fulness    of    the      Scriptures." 

Ps.  cxix.  97.     "  6>  ho7V  love  I  Thy  law  /  it  is  my  meditation 
all  the  day. " 

"  I  ADORE  the  fulness  of  the  Scriptures,"  was  the  exclama- 
tion of  Tertullian, — "in  which  posture  of  holy  admira- 
tion," said  Dr.  Owen,  "  I  desire  my  mind  may  be  found 
while  I  am  in  this  world." 

"  What  do  I  not  owe  to  the  Lord,"  writes  Henry 
Martyn,  "  for  permitting  me  to  take  a  part  in  the  transla- 
tion of  His  word  .''  Never  did  I  see  such  wonders,  and 
wisdom,    and  love,  in  the  blessed    book,  as  since  I  have 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  149 

been  obliged  to  study  every  expression  ;  and  it  is  a  de- 
lightful rcflf.-ction,  that  death  cannot  deprive  us  of  the 
pleasure  of  studying  its  mysteries." 

Tiic  same  testimony  was  given  by  a  kindred  spirit 
emi)loyed  in  the  same  work.  Shortly  before  his  death, 
Dr.  Buchanan,  giving  to  a  friend  some  details  of  his 
laborious  revisions  of  his  Syriac  Testament,  suddenly 
stopped,  and  burst  into  tears.  On  recovering  himself  he 
said,  "  I  am  not  ill,  but  I  was  completely  overcome  with 
the  recollection  of  the  delight  which  I  have  enjoyed  in  this 
exercise.  At  first  I  was  disposed  to  shrink  from  the  task 
as  irksome,  and  apprehended  that  I  should  find  even  the 
Scriptures  pall  by  the  frequency  of  this  critical  examina- 
tion. But  so  far  from  it,  every  fresh  perusal  seemed  to 
throw  fresh  light  on  the  word  of  God,  and  to  convey 
additional  joy  and  consolation  to  my  mind."  "  How 
delightful,"  observes  his  biographer,  "is  the  contemplation 
of  a  servant  of  Christ  thus  devoutly  engaged  in  his 
heavenly  Master's  work,  almost  to  the  very  moment  of 
his  transition  to  the  Divine  source  of  light  and  truth 
itself!" 

CCLVIII.      A    Heathen    Convert    and   his    Bible. 

Ps.  cxix.  97.     "  6>  hoiv  love  1  Thy  law.'" 

An  aged  convert  from  heathenism,  a  native  of  one  of  the 
Ilervey  Islands,  some  years  ago  received  as  a  present  a 
copy  of  the  Bible.  A  {c\v  pages  or  chapters  only  had 
been  given  him  before  this,  and  he  was  greatly  pleased  in 
becoming  the  owner  of  the  volume.  After  receiving  it,  he 
said,  "  My  brethren  and  sisters,  this  is  my  resolve :  The 
dust  shall  never  cover  my  new  Bible  ;  the  moth  shall 
never  eat  it ;  the  mildew  shall  not  rot  it.     My  light  I     My 

joy!" 

CCLIX.     A  Surety,     Ps.   cxix.   122.     ^' Be  surety  for  Thy 
servant  for  goody 

For  many  months  James  Sherman,  who  became  the  famed 
minister  of  Surrey  Chapel,  Lontion,  was  in  great  darkness, 
inquiring  and  seeking  after  God.  He  says,  "  Day  by  day 
I  read  the  Scriptures,  to  see  if  God  spake  to  me  by  His 
promise,  but  no    promise   brought   me   relief."     But   after 


ISO  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

twelve  months  of  wrestling  and  seeking,  the  day  of 
deliverance  came.  Mr.  King,  of  Doncaster,  came  to 
preach  at  Tottenham  Court-road  Chapel,  and  Sherman 
went  to  hear  him.  "All  the  way,"  he  says,  "I  watered 
the  pavement  with  my  tears,  and  sent  up  my  cries  to 
Heaven.  I  heard  him  with  emotion  and  some  pleasure, 
yet  my  faith  did  not  seem  sufficiently  strong  to  bring 
home  to  myself  the  blessing.  I  bent  my  steps  homeward, 
but,  as  I  was  crossing  from  Bedford  Street  to  Montague 
Place,  I  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  saying  to  me,  '  I  am  thy 
surety.'  I  turned  round  involuntarily,  half  imagining  that 
some  one  was  speaking  to  me.  After  a  moment's  pause,  I 
said  to  myself,  '  It  is  the  voice  of  my  Saviour.'  And  a 
flood  of  light  was  poured  into  the  prison-house  of  my  poor 
soul,  and  at  once  converted  it  into  the  temple  of  God." 

CCLX.      Dissatisfied    with    Myself.      Ps.  cxix.  130. 

"  The  entrance  of  Thy  words  giveth  light." 

One  of  the  neatest  of  the  neat  compliments  for  which  Louis 
XIV.  was  famous  was  addressed  to  Massillon,  the  famous 
Court  preacher  :  "  Father,"  said  the  King,  "  I  have  listened 
in  my  chapel  to  many  great  preachers,  and  I  have  been 
very  well  satisfied  with  them  ;  but  as  often  as  I  hear  you, 
I  am  very  ill-satisfied  with  myself." 

CCLXI.     A  Japanese  Convert.      Ps.  cxix.  130.     "The 

entrance  of  Thy  words  giveth  light." 

Six  Japanese  girls  were  sent  over  to  America  to  be 
educated.  One  of  them  took  a  situation  as  governess  in 
a  family,  where  she  read  the  English  Bible.  She  wrote 
under  deep  conviction  to  her  father,  urging  him  to  procure 
a  copy  of  the  Bible  and  read  it.  He,  thinking  it  was  a 
whim  of  his  child,  dismissed  the  subject  from  his  mind, 
and  destroyed  the  letter.  This  was  ten  years  ago.  Some 
seven  years  later  he  went  as  Commissioner  for  Japan  to 
the  Austrian  Exhibition.  There  he  saw  the  Bible  Stand, 
and  was  impressed  with  wonder  that  so  much  should  be 
made  of  any  single  book,  and  that  it  should  be  thought 
worth  translating  into  so  many  languages.  He  purchased 
a  copy  in  Chinese,  and  read  it  with  curiosity.  Curiosity 
deepened  into  interest,  and  by  degrees  he  became  convinced 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  151 

of  the  truth  of  all  the  Book  tau.!:;ht.  In  his  journey  through 
Europe  he  made  his  own  observations  of  the  three  pre- 
vailing forms  of  Christianity — the  Romish,  Greek,  and 
Protestant  faiths.  He  was  satisfied  that  the  last  of  these 
came  nearest  to  the  teaching  and  spirit  of  the  Book  itself 
On  his  return  to  Yeddo  he  applied  to  the  American 
missionaries  for  baptism.  Hearing  of  the  step  he  had 
taken,  his  daughter  wrote  to  him  from  America  to  suggest 
that,  as  he  had  the  means  at  his  disposal,  he  should  pur- 
chase a  heathen  temple  for  purposes  of  Christian  worship. 
He  did  so,  and  in  the  temple  thus  purchased  the  Christian 
missionaries  now  meet  for  worship. 

CCLXII.    A  Peacemaker.    Ps.  cxx.  7.    '^  I  ain  for  peace!' 

It  is  said  of  the  late  Henry  Venn  Elliot,  of  Brighton,  that 
he  did  everything  heartily  and  with  all  his  strength.  He 
vi^as  very  firm.  Twice  he  put  a  stop  to  men  fighting  in  the 
streets,  thrusting  himself  between  the  combatants  and 
saying,  "If  you  want  to  fight,  fight  me,"  and  he  rebuked 
the  crowds  for  encouraging  the  fights,  "  You  call  yourselves 
Christians,"  he  said,  "  and  yet  delight  to  see  your  fellow- 
creatures  fighting  like  wild  beasts  !  Do  you  not  know  your 
bodies  were  made  for  God's  service  ?  "  The  mob  dispersed 
at  once.  The  home  circle  would  never  have  known  it 
from  himself  but  spots  of  blood  on  his  shirt  betrayed 
the  affair, 

CCLXIII.     Home,  Sweet  Home!     Ps,  cxxii.  2.     ''Our 

feet  shall  stand  within  thy  gates,  O  Jerusalem  " 

One  night  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  as  the  Confederate 
and  the  Union  armies  lay  opposite  each  other,  the  Union 
bands  played,  "The  Star-spangled  Banner,"  "E[ail,  Colum- 
bia!" and  other  Union  songs;  and  the  Confederates  in 
contest  played  "  Dixie,"  and  other  pieces  of  their  side.  It 
seemed  that  each  would  play  the  other  down.  By-and-by 
a  band  struck  up  "  Home,  Sweet  Home!"  Ihe  conflict 
ceased.  The  bands  on  the  other  side  struck  up,  "Home, 
Sweet  Home  !  "  and  voices  from  opposite  sides  of  the  river 
joined  the  chorus,  "  There  is  no  place  like  home." 


152  OLD   TESTAMENT  AiYECDOTES. 

CCLXIV.  Durie's  Psalm.  Ps.  cxxiv.  i-8. 
This  is  known  in  Scotland,  in  its  second  version  and  with 
its  bold  marching  melody,  as  Diiries  Psahn.  James  Mel- 
ville, in  his  diary — date  1582 — gives,  in  his  own  quaint  way, 
an  account  of  the  incident  which  gave  rise  to  the  name. 
John  Durie  had  been  banished  from  his  pulpit  and  from 
Edinburgh  for  his  boldness  of  speech  in  criticising  some  of 
the  acts  of  James  VI.,  but  the  feeling  in  his  favour  was  so 
strong  that  his  sentence  had  to  be  reversed.  The  tune 
and  the  man  can  be  best  understood  by  giving  James  Mel- 
ville's own  words,  spelling  and  all  :  "  Within  io.^  days  after 
the  petition  of  the  nobility,  Jhon  Durie  gat  leave  to  ga 
haim  to  his  ain  flock  of  Edinbrugh  :  at  whase  returning 
there  was  a  great  concours  of  the  haill  toun,  wha  met  him 
at  the  Nether  Bow  ;  and  going  up  the  street,  with  bare 
heads  and  loud  voices,  sang  to  the  praise  of  God,  and  testi- 
fying of  great  joy  and  consolation,  the  124  Psalm — 'Now 
Israel  may  say,  and  that  trevvly' — ,  till  heaven  and  earth 
resoundit.  This  noise,  when  the  Due  (of  Lennox)  being 
in  the  toun,  heard,  and  ludging  in  the  Hiegate  looked  out 
and  saw,  he  rave  his  beard  for  anger,  and  hasted  him  off  the 
toun."  John  Durie  was  a  minister  of  mark  in  his  time, 
and  very  popular  with  the  citizens  of  Edinburgh.  He  was 
fearless  and  devout — a  man  of  the  people,  and  also  a  man 
of  God  ;  and  the  description  of  him  is  so  graphic  that  it  is 
worth  giving:  "Jhone  Durie  was  of  small  literature,  but 
had  seen  and  marked  the  warks  of  God  in  the  first  Refor- 
mation, and  been  a  doer  baith  with  toung  and  hand.  He 
had  been  a  diligent  hearer  of  Mr.  Knox,  and  observer  of 
all  his  ways.  He  conceived  the  grounds  of  matters  weil, 
and  could  utter  them  fully  and  manfully  with  a  mighty 
spirit,  voice,  and  action.  The  special  gift  I  marked  in  him 
was  holiness,  and  a  daily,  careful,  continual  walking  with 
God  in  meditation  and  prayer.  He  was  a  verie  gude 
fallow,  and  took  delyt  as  his  special  comfort  to  have  his 
table  and  house  filled  with  the  best  men.  These  he  would 
gladly  hear,  with  them  confer  and  talk,  professing  he  was 
but  a  buik-bearer,  and  would  fain  learn  of  them  ;  and 
getting  the  ground  and  light  of  knowledge  in  any  gude 
point,  then  would  he  rejoice  in  God,  praise  and  pray  there- 
upon, and  urge  it  with  a  clear  and  forcible  exhortation  in 
assembly  and  pulpit." 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  153 

The  learned  and  pious  Dr.  Tholuck,  of  Halle,  used  to  tell 
an  anecdote  of  the  deatii-bed  of  his  father-in-law.  He  had 
been  once  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  as  it  happens  .that, 
though  the  mind  may  have  been  entirely  emancipated, 
sometimes  the  fear  of  dying  without  priestly  absolution 
returns,  his  son-in-law  asked  him  if  he  had  any  such  feel- 
ing. He  expressed  his  confidence  in  the  great  High 
Priest,  and,  giving  his  hand  a  wave  of  triumph,  said, — 

"  Strick  ist  entzwei,  und  wir  sind  frei." 

The  words  are  from  Luther's  version  of  this  psalm,  made  in 
1525,  corresponding  to — 

"  Broke  are  their  nets,  and  thus  escaped  we." 

The  biographer  of  M'Cheyne,  giving  an  account  of  his 
death,  says  :  "  Next  day  he  continued,  sunk  in  body  and 
mind,  till  about  the  time  when  his  people  met  for  their 
usual  evening  prayer-meeting,  when  he  requested  to  be 
left  alone  for  half  an  hour.  When  his  servant  entered  the 
room  again,  he  exclaimed  with  a  joyful  voice,  '  My  soul  is 
escaped  as  a  bird  out  of  the  snare  of  his  fowler  ;  the  snare 
is  broken,  and  I  am  escaped.'  His  countenance,  as  he  said 
this,  bespoke  inward  peace  ;  and  ever  after  he  was  observed 
to  be  happy." 

Ver.  8.  With  this  verse  the  French  Protestant  Church 
always  begins  its  public  worship — words  which  well  become 
the  children  of  the  Huguenots. 


CCLXV.  Interposition  of  Providence.  Ps.  cxxiv.  2. 
"7/"  it  had  not  been  the  Lord  who  was  on  our  side,  when  men 
rose  up  against  us  :  then  they  had  swallowed  us  up  quick,  when 
their  wrath  was  kindled  against  us." 

On  one  occasion,  the  Prince  Conde  and  Admiral  Coligny 
— the  leaders  of  the  Huguenot  party — had  been  driven 
from  their  homes  by  their  opponents,  who  had  attempted 
cruelly  to  massacre  them  ;  they  took  to  flight  accordingly, 
with  their  helpers  and  terrified  families.  "  The  Prince  of 
Conde  set  out  silently,"  says  Matthieu,  an  eye-witness  of 
the  events  he  narrates,  "  but  his  situation  touched  all  hearts 
with  pity  when  they  saw  the  first  prince  ,of  the  blood 
getting  forward  in  the  intensest  heat,  with  his  wife  on  the 


154  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

point  of  giving  birth  to  a  child,  and  three  h'ttle  children 
borne  after  them,  followed  by  the  now  motherless  family  of 
Coligny,  of  whom  only  one  was  able  to  walk.  The  wife  of 
D'Antelot,  too,  was  there  with  her  little  girl  only  two  years 
old,  and  several  other  ladies.  The  only  escort  for  this 
troop  of  helpless  women  and  children  was  one  hundred 
and  fifty  soldiers,  headed  by  two  brave  and  affectionate 
fathers. 

"  They  journeyed  on  as  rapidly  as  possible,  for  their  only 
hope  of  safety  lay  in  crossing  the  Loire  before  they  could 
be  overtaken,  and  then  seeking  shelter  in  Rochelle  ;  but 
the  whole  country  was  filled  with  hostile  troops,  and  the 
bridges  over  the  Loire  were  already  occupied.  They 
therefore  determined  to  attempt  a  ford  not  commonly 
known,  and  arrived  at  it  when  the  river,  usually  broad 
and  furious,  was  so  far  diminished  by  the  long  drought 
that  they  crossed  without  difficulty,  the  prince  carrying  his 
youngest  infant  on  his  arm,  clasped  to  his  bosom. 

"  Scarcely  had  they  reached  the  southern  bank,  when, 
turning  round,  they  discovered  the  cavalry  of  their  enemies 
in  full  pursuit,  crowding  rapidly  upon  the  opposite  side. 

"  An  event  now  happened  certainly  very  remarkable. 
Without  any  apparent  cause,  a  sudden  swell  of  waters  came 
foaming  and  rushing  down  the  stream,  and  in  an  instant 
filling  the  channel,  rendered  the  ford  impassable,  and  the 
defenceless  company  were  thus  rescued  from  the  jaws  of 
their  destroyer. 

"  Can  we  wonder  that  men  taught  to  rest  upon  Provi- 
dence, and  to  discern  the  Almighty  hand  in  the  events  of 
their  agitated  lives,  should  have  regarded  this  as  a  signal 
interposition  in  their  favour,  and  an  undoubted  sign  that 
His  arm  was  extended  for  their  protection  ?  " 

CCLXVI.     Almost  drowned.     Ps.  cxxiv.  4.     **  Then  the 

waters  had  overwhelmed  us." 

The  following  anecdote  relates  to  one  of  Mr.  Wesley's 
early  visits  into  Cornwall  :  "I  was  born,"  says  old  Peter 
Martin,  "at  Helstone,  and  baptized  on  the  12th  of  May, 
1742.  My  wife  is  94  years  old  ;  our  united  ages  amount 
to  191  years.  I  have  been  sexton  of  this  parish,  Helstone, 
65  years.     I  remember  Mr.  Wesley  well.     I  first  heard  him 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  155 

preach  in  the  street  near  our  market-house  74  years  ago. 
I  have  also  seen  him  at  Redruth,  and  had  an  adventure 
with  him  while  I  was  ostler  at  the  London  Inn,  then  kept 
by  Henry  Pembcrthy.  Mr.  Wesley  came  there  one  day 
in  a  carriage  driven  by  his  own  servant,  who,  being  un- 
acquainted with  the  road  farther  westward  than  Redruth, 
he  obtained  my  master's  leave  for  me  to  drive  him  to  St. 
Ives.  We  set  out,  and  on  our  arrival  at  Hayle  we  found 
the  sands  between  that  place  and  St.  Ives,  over  which  we 
had  to  pass,  overflown  by  the  rising  tide.  On  reaching  the 
water's  edge,  I  hesitated  to  proceed,  and  advised  Mr.  Wesley 
of  the  danger  of  crossing  ;  and  a  captain  of  a  vessel,  seeing 
us  stopping,  came  up  and  endeavoured  to  dissuade  us  from 
an  undertaking  so  full  of  peril,  but  without  effect.  Mr. 
Wesley  was  resolved  to  go  on  ;  he  said  he  had  to  preach 
at  St.  Ives  at  a  certain  hour,  and  that  he  must  fulfil  his 
appointment,  and  looking  out  of  the  carriage  window,  he 
called  loudly  to  me,  'Take  the  sea!  take  sea!'  In  a 
moment  I  dashed  into  the  waves  and  was  quickly  involved 
in  a  world  of  waters.  The  horses  were  now  swimming,  and 
the  carriage  became  overwhelmed  with  the  tide,  as  its 
hinder  wheels  became  not  unfrequently  merged  into  the 
deep  pits  and  hollows  in  the  sands.  I  struggled  hard  to 
maintain  my  seat  in  the  saddle,  while  the  poor  affrighted 
animals  were  snorting  and  rearing  in  the  most  terrific 
manner,  and  furiously  plunging  the  opposing  waves.  At 
this  awful  crisis  I  heard  Mr.  Wesley's  voice.  With  diffi- 
culty I  turned  my  head  towards  the  carriage,  and  saw  his 
long,  white  locks  dripping  the  salt  sea  down  the  rugged 
furrows  of  his  venerable  countenance.  He  was  looking 
calmly  forth  from  the  windows,  undisturbed  by  the  tumul- 
tuous war  of  the  surrounding  waters,  or  by  the  danger  of 
his  perilous  situation.  He  hailed  me  by  a  tolerably  loud 
voice,  and  asked,  '  What  is  your  name,  driver  ? '  I 
answered,  '  Peter.'  '  Peter,'  said  Mr.  Wesley, — '  Peter,  fear 
not  ;  you  shall  not  sink.'  With  vigorous  spurring  and 
wliipi)ing  I  again  urged  on  the  flagging  horses,  and  at  last 
got  safely  over  ;  but  it  was  a  miracle,  as  I  shall  always  say. 
We  continued  our  journey,  and  reached  St.  Ives  without 
further  hindrance." 


156  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCLXVII.    A  Favourite  Song  of  Scottish  Refor- 
mation.    Ps.  cxxv.  1-5. 

This  psalm  used  to  be  sung  frequently  in  early  Scottish 
Reformation  times.  The  tune  which  accompanied  it  was 
"  St.  Andrew."  It  was  often  sung,  too,  by  the  French 
Protestants,  when  hiding  from  the  Dragonnades  of  Louis 
XIV.,  and  fleeing  to  the  frontiers  for  escape.  Every  verse, 
every  word  seems  made  for  such  emergencies. 

CCLXVIII.     A  Sudden    Death.     Ps.  cxxvi.  5.     ''They 
that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy T 

This  was  a  favourite  verse  of  Philip  Henry,  who  used  to 
say  that  weeping  should  not  hinder  sowing.  His  death 
was  in  accordance  with  it,  It  took  place  suddenly  on  the 
morning  of  a  fast  for  public  danger,  when  he  was  to  have 
preached.  Some  wished  to  defer  the  service,  but  this  text 
was  quoted  for  going  forward  with  it.  His  son  Matthew 
Henry  spoke  from  2  Kings  xiii.  20  :  "  And  Elisha  died, 
.     .     .    and  the  bands  of  the  Moabites  invaded  the  land." 

CCLXIX.     A    Chosen     Psalm    of    Catherine    de 
Medici.     Ps.  cxxviii. 

Along  with  Psalms  vi.  and  cxlii.,  this  was  chosen  for  her- 
self by  Catherine  de  Medici.  She  could  scarcely  have 
selected  any  more  unsuitable. 

CCLXX.  PhiHp  Henry.  Ps.  cxxviii.  2.  '' Blessed  is 
every  one  tliat  fcarcth  the  Lord:  that  walketh  in  LLis  ways. 
For  thoii  shall  eat  the  labours  of  thine  hands ;  happy  shall 
thou  be,  and  it  shall  be  well  7uith  thce.^' 

When  Philip  Henry  was  settled  at  Worth  en  burj^',  he 
sought  the  hand  of  the  only  daughter  and  heiress  of  Mr. 
Matthews,  of  Broad  Oak.  The  father  demurred,  saying 
that  though  Mr.  Henry  was  an  excellent  preacher  and  a 
gentleman,  yet  he  did  not  know  from  whence  he  came. 
"True,"  said  the  daughter;  "but  I  know  where  he  is 
going,  and  I  should  like  to  go  with  him."  Mr.  Henry 
records  in  his  diary,  long  after,  the  happiness  of  the  union, 
which   was  soon   after  consummated: — "April   26,   i86a 


OLD    TESTA MENT  ANECDOTES.  157 

This  day  we  have  been  married  twenty  years,  in  which 
time  we  have  received  of  the  Lord  twenty  thousand 
mercies — to  God  be  glory  !  "  Sometimes  he  writes — "  We 
have  been  so  long  married,  and  never  reconciled,  i.e.  there 
never  was  any  occasion  for  it."  His  advice  to  his  children, 
with  respect  to  their  marriage,  was — "Please  God,  and 
please  yourselves,  and  you  will  please  me  ; "  and  his  usual 
compliment  to  his  newly-married  friends — "Others  wish 
you  all  happiness.  I  wish  you  all  holiness,  and  then  there 
is  no  doubt  but  you  will  have  all  happiness." 

CCLXXI.     A  Psalm  Beloved  by  Luther.    Ps.  cxx.x. 

By  a  curious  unfitness,  this  Psalm  with  xxxii,  was  the 
choice  of  Diana  of  Poitiers  ;  and  yet  may  there  not  be 
a  sense  of  deep  fitness  which  comes  at  moments  to  the 
souls  of  the  most  frivolous  ?  We  can  understand  better 
Luther's  love  of  it,  with  Psalm  H.  These  Psalms  are  the 
nearest  approach  in  the  Old  Testament  to  the  8th  chapter 
of  the  Romans.  One  of  his  great  psalm-hymns  which 
penetrated  to  the  inmost  heart  of  the  German  people  was 
formed  on  this  130th.  If  the  46th  furnished  the  major, 
this  gives  the  minor  key  in  the  songs  of  the  Reformation 
of  Germany : — 

"  Alls  tJcfer  Noth  schrei  ich  Z7i  Dtr." 
"  Lord,  from  the  depths  to  Thee  I  cry." 

It  was  written  in  1524,  and  has  its  own  history.  On 
the  6th  of  May  of  the  year  in  which  it  was  made,  a  poor 
old  weaver  sang  it  through  the  streets  of  Magdeburg  and 
offered  it  for  sale  at  a  price  that  suited  the  poorest.  He 
was  cast  into  prison  by  the  burgomaster,  but  200  citizens 
marched  to  the  Town  Hall,  and  would  not  leave  till  he 
was  freed.  "So  mightily  grew  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and 
prevailed."  And  Psalms  and  music  were  chosen  weapons 
of  the  time.  "  The  ransomed  of  the  Lord  returned,  and 
came  to  Zion  with  songs."  This  prayer-psalm  had  its 
comforting  power  on  the  singer.  When  Luther,  during 
the  Augsburg  Diet,  was  at  the  Castle  of  Coburg,  and  had 
to  suffer  much  from  inward  and  outward  trials,  he  fell  into 
a  swoon.  When  he  awoke  from  it,  he  said,  "  Come,  and  in 
defiance  of  the  devil,  let  us  sing  the  Psalm,  'Lord,  from 
the  depths  to  Thee  I  cry ; '  let  us  sing  it  in  full  chorus  and 


158  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

extol  and  praise  God."  In  the  first  days  of  the  Reform 
it  was  frequently  employed  as  a  funeral  song.  It  was  sung 
at  the  interment  of  the  great  friend  and  protector  of  Luther, 
Frederick  the  Wise,  in  1525.  When  the  body  of  Luther 
was  on  its  way  from  Eisleben,  where  he  died,  to  Witten- 
berg, where  he  lies  buried,  it  rested  for  a  night,  Feb.  20th, 
1546,  in  the  church  in  Halle  of  which  Justus  Jonas,  the 
bosom  friend  of  Luther,  was  pastor  [Liehfraitenk'irche). 
This  Psalm  was  given  out  by  Jonas,  and  sung  by  the  thou- 
sands who  thronged  and  wept  round  Luther's  coffin. 

Dr.  John  Owen  gives  an  account  of  the  way  in  which  he 
was  led  to  write  his  commentary,  or  rather  series  of  dis- 
courses, on  this  Psalm.  "  Mr.  Richard  Davis,"  he  says, 
"who  afterwards  became  pastor  of  a  church  in  Rowel, 
Northamptonshire,  being  under  religious  impressions, 
sought  a  conference  with  me.     I  put  the  question  to  him, 

*  Young  man,  pray,  in  what  naanner  do  you  think  to  go  to 
God?'     'Through  the  Mediator,  sir,'  Mr.  Davis  answered. 

*  That  is  easily  said,'  I  replied,  '  but  I  assure  you,  it  is 
another  thing  to  go  to  God  through  the  Mediator  than 
many  who  make  use  of  the  expression  are  aware  of  I 
myself  preached  Christ  some  years,  when  I  had  but  very 
little,  if  any,  experimental  acquaintance  with  access  to 
God  through  Christ ;  until  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  visit 
me  with  sore  affliction,  whereby  I  was  brought  to  the 
mouth  of  the  grave,  and  under  which  my  soul  was  oppressed 
with  horror  and  darkness  :  but  God  graciously  relieved  my 
spirit  by  a  powerful  application  of  Psalm  cxxx.  4  :  "  But 
there  is  forgiveness  with  Thee,  that  Thou  mayest  be 
feared,"  from  whence  I  received  special  instruction,  peace 
and  comfort  in  drawing  near  to  God  through  the  Mediator, 
and  preached  thereupon  immediately  after  my  recovery.' " 
This  is  no  doubt  the  reason  why  nearly  three- fourths  of 
Owen's  treatise  is  occupied  with  this  verse. 

It  was  the  130th  Psalm,  sung  in  St.  Paul's,  May,  1738, 
and  heard  by  John  Wesley  with  deep  emotion,  which  pre- 
pared him  for  the  truth  of  justification  by  faith,  which  he 
embraced  shortly  afterwards  through  reading  Luther  on 
the  Galatians.  His  conversations  with  Peter  Bohlen,  of 
the  Moravian  Brethren,  also  aided  him  greatly,  and  helped 
to  preserve  him  from  the  mystic  Arminianism  of  Lazv's 
Serious  Call,  to  which  he  was  at  one  time  inclined.     So  far 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  159 

as  we  can  see,  Wesley's  strength  and  that  of  the  world-wide 
movement  which  has  come  from  him  would  have  failed  in 
the  birth,  but  for  this  decision.  It  is  interesting,  also,  to 
mark  the  glimpses  we  get  of  souls  touching  one  another 
age  after  age  through  the  hidden  life  which  springs  from 
the  Word  of  God, — David,  Paul,  Luther,  Owen,  Zinzendorf, 
Wesley,  moving  and  being  moved  by  the  secret  currents 
of  that  same  spirit  of  which  we  hear  the  sound,  but  cannot 
tell  whence  it  comes  or  whither  it  goes.  When  the  veil  is 
lifted  that  is  spread  over  all  nations,  it  will  be  as  pleasant 
to  trace  the  intertwining  of  the  roots  of  the  tree  of  life,  as 
to  look  on  its  blossoms  and  admire  its  fruit. 

Ver.  6.  Jonathan  Edwards,  in  his  Journal,  says,  "  In 
Sept.,  1725,  was  taken  ill  at  Newhaven  ;  and  endeavoured 
to  go  home  to  Windsor  ;  was  so  ill  at  the  North  Village 
that  I  could  go  no  further,  where  I  lay  sick  for  about  a 
quarter  of  a  year.  And  in  this  sickness,  God  was  pleased 
to  visit  me  again  with  the  sweet  influences  of  His  Spirit. 
My  mind  was  greatly  engaged  there  on  divine  pleasant 
contemplations  and  longings  of  soul.  I  observed  that 
those  who  watched  with  me  would  often  be  loolcing  out  for 
the  morning,  and  seemed  to  wish  for  it ;  which  brought  to 
my  mind  the  words  of  the  Psalmist's,  which  my  soul  with 
sweetness  made  its  own  language":  'My  soul  waiteth  for 
the  Lord  more  than  they  that  watch  for  the  morning.' 
And  when  the  light  of  the  morning  came,  and  the  beams 
of  the  sun  came  in  at  the  windows,  it  refreshed  my  soul 
from  one  morning  to  another.  It  seemed  to  me  to  be 
some  image  of  the  sweet  light  of  God's  glory." 

CCLXXII.     A    Song    of    Christian    Assemblies. 

Ps.  cxxxiii. 

This  Psalm  has  opened  and  closed  many  a  Christian 
assembly,  but  has  not  \ot  found  its  way  to  the  inmost 
heart  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  In  1638,  it  was  sung  at  the 
termination  of  the  famous  Assembly  held  in  Glasgow,  of 
which  Alexander  Henderson  was  Moderator.  That  meet- 
ing was  the  tide-mark  of  thesecond  Reformation — a  bright 
morning  that  was  soon  obscured  by  clouds  and  storm,  but 
it  opened  a  day  which  is  still  advancing. 


l6o  OLD    TESTAMENT  .lAECDOTES. 

CCLXXIII.     "Let   us    with    a  Gladsome    Mind." 

Ps.  cxxxvi. 

This  Psalm  was  the  foundation  of  John  Milton's  "  Let  us 
with  a  gladsome  mind  " — written  when  he  was  fifteen — the 
only  one  of  his  psalms  which  has  found  a  responsive  note 
in  the  son^s  of  tlic  Church,  thouj^di  no  one  felt  more  than 
he  did  the  hei-^dit  of  the  Psalmist's  great  argument! 

"Their  songs, 
Thin  sown  with  aught  of  profit  or  delight, 
Will  far  be  found  unworthy  to  compare 
With  Sion's  songs  to  all  true  tastes  excelling, — 
Where  God  is  praised  aright,  and  godlike  men, 
The  Holiest  of  holies,  and  Ills  saints,— 
Such  are  from  God  inspired." 

Paradise  Reg.,  iv. 

CCLXXIV.     A  Patriotic  Psalm.     Ps.  cxxxvii. 

This  Psalm  has  struck  the  key  to  many  a  song  of  the  love 
of  country. 

"Yes  !  I  may  love  the  music  of  strange  tongues, 
And  mould  my  heart  anew  to  take  tlie  stamp 
Of  foreign  friendships  in  a  foreign  land  ; 
But  to  my  parched  roof's  mouth  let  cleave  this  tongue, 
My  fancy  fade  into  a  yellow  leaf, 
And  this  oft-pausing  heart  forget  to  throb, 
If  Scotland  !  thee  and  thine,  it  e'er  forget." 

Grahame. 

The  Abbe  Curci,  a  great  Oriental  scholar,  and  author  of 
a  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Italian,  one  of  the 
few  clergymen  who  have  taken  the  side  of  Italy  and  free- 
dom against  the  Pope,  lectured  to  an  immense  assembly  in 
Rome  (18S3),  and  expressed  his  special  love  to  the  137th 
Psalm.  He  said  it  was  the  first  and  grandest  patriotic 
song  which  was  ever  written — linking  God  and  country 
together.  Camoens,  the  national  poet  of  Portugal,  has 
paraphrased  the  137th  Psalm  in  a  sonnet  as  the  Psalm  of 
"  pious,  patriotic  memory." 

It  may  be  considered,  in  a  higher  point  of  view,  as  the 
spring  of  the  Jerusalem  songs,  which,  in  all  ages  of  the 
Church,  looked  away  from  a  state  of  exile  to  the  final 
home : — 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  l6l 

"  For  thee,  O  dear,  dear  country, 

Mine  eyes  their  vi^Mls  keep  ; 
For  very  love,  beliolclinf,^ 

Thy  happy  name,  they  weep  : 
E'en  now,  by  faith,  I  see  thee. 

E'en  now  thy  walls  discern  ; 
To  thee  my  tliouLjlUs  are  kindled, 

And  strive,  and  pant,  and  yearn." 

CCLXXV.      A    Distressed    Church.      Ps.    cxxxvii.  3, 

4.  "  They  that  wasted  us  required  of  us  mirth,  saying,  Sitig 
us  one  of  the  snugs  of  Zion.  How  shall  we  sing  the  Lord's 
song  in  a  strange  land  1  " 

It  has  often  been  said  that  the  first  Nonconformists  were 
a  glotimy  generation.  '*  But,"  asks  one  of  their  advocates, 
"  is  it  fair  to  ruin  us,  and  then  reproach  us  for  not  being 
merry?  They  that  wasted  us  required  of  us  luirth.  .  .  . 
But  how  shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  songs  in  a  strange  land 
and  what  other  songs  can  we  sing  ?  Shall  we  set  the  Five- 
Mile  Acts  to  music,  and  make  merry  with  our  sorrows?" 
Some  degree  of  gloom  was  natural.  One  poor  woman 
exclaimed  to  a  Nonconformist  minister,  "  I  wonder  how 
any  one  can  laugh  when  God's  Church  is  in  such  dis- 
tress." 

CCLXXVI.      The  Lord's  Song.      Ps.  cxxxvii.  4.    *'The 
Zord's  song  in  a  strajige  land." 

In  one  of  his  recent  letters  from  Shanghai,  Archdeacon 
Moule  describes  an  incident  of  his  journey  to  Hangchow 
which  shows  Christian  ideas  are  spreading.  He  was 
awakened,  so  he  tells  us,  early  on  a  Sunday  morning  as  he 
lay  in  his  boat  hearing  the  )^ounger  boatman  in  his  song, 
sung  to  beguile  the  toil  of  paddling,  repeat  the  words, 
"  Jesus  is  our  best  Friend  :  I  love  thee,  my  Saviour."  The 
lad,  when  questioned,  said  he  had  never  been  in  a 
Christian  church  or  school  himself,  but  had  learned  the 
words  from  a  friend.  Round  Shanghai  one  may  often 
hear  snatches  of  prayer  and  hynms  chanted  by  the  boat- 
men at  their  work.  Often  those  who  sing  have  no  idea  of 
the  true  meaning  of  the  words,  but  the  hymns  of  the  new 
faith  upon  heathen  lips  prophesy  and  promise  a  glorious 
victory. 

M 


1 62  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCLXXVII.     In  God's  Hands.     Ps.  cxxxix.  12.     ''The 

darkness  and  the  li;^lit  arc  hollt  atilw  to  Thee." 

Irkn/i^,US  Prime  mentions  the  follovvinLj  incident  in  one 
of  his  If'tters  : — 

"  When  I  was  about  forty  years  old,  and  sittincj^  at  my 
work  in  the  office  in  New  York,  a  stranijer  entered,  and 
without  introduction  or  ev^en  mentioninii;  his  name,  said  to 
me  :  '  I  have  come  in  to  see  you  whom  I  know  very  well, 
though  you  do  not  know  me.  About  forty  years  ago  I  was 
going  up  the  Hudson  River  on  a  sloop,  for  in  those  days 
there  were  no  steamboats  or  railroads.  When  we  were  in 
Tai)pan  Sea  we  were  overtaken  by  a  violent  storm,  and 
the  passengers,  of  whom  there  were  several  on  board,  were 
greatly  alarmed  lest  we  should  be  capsized.  In  the  midst 
of  the  e.xcitement  a  young  and  beautiful  woman  stood  in 
the  midst  of  us  and  said  :  "  In  God's  hands  we  are  as  safe 
on  the  water  as  on  the  land."  Those  words  calmed  the 
excitciuent,  and  we  waited  in  hope  till  the  storm  abated. 
The  lovely  woman  who  thus  proved  our  comforter  in 
danger,  afterward  became  your  mother  !  Her  words  have 
been  my  motto  all  the  years  since.  I  have  watched  your 
life  and  marked  every  step  you  have  taken,  always  keeping 
in  mind  the  lesson  I  learned  from  the  lips  that  taught  your 
infant  lips  to  pray.' 

"  Having  said  these  pleasant  words,  the  stranger  left  me, 
and  I  have  never  to  my  knowledge  seen  him  or  heard  from 
him  since.  I  asked  my  mother  about  it,  and  she  remem- 
bered the  time,  the  voyage,  the  storm,  the  excitement,  but 
her  own  composure  was  so  habitual  that  it  was  not  mem- 
orable." 

CCLXXVIII.     The  Evening  Song.     Ps.  cxli. 

This  Psalm  was  the  evening  song  of  the  early  Christian 
Church. 

CCLXXIX.      Watching  the  Lips.     Ps.  cxli.   3.     ''Set 
a  watch,  O  Lord,  before  my  mouth  :  keep  the  door  of  my  lips. 

The  old  Greeks  tell  us  a  story  about  the  death  of  Hercules, 
That  strong  hero  had  shot  his  enemy  Nessus,  with  a  pois- 
oned arrow,  and  the  garment  of  the  slain    man    was  all 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  1G3 


stained  with  poisoned  blood.  Before  lie  died,  Ncssiis  gave 
his  clothing  to  the  wife  of  Hercules,  telling  her  that  it 
would  make  her  husband  love  her  always.  It  came  to  pass 
after  a  time  that  she  gave  the  fatal  garment  to  her  husb.uid, 
and  no  sooner  had  he  put  it  on,  than  the  poison  seized 
upon  him  ;  and  when  in  his  agony  he  tried  to  tear  it  off,  it 
clung  the  closer,  and  so  he  died  killed  by  his  own  poison. 
So  it  is  with  the  man  who  clothes  himself  with  the  garnicnt 
of  cursing  or  bad  talk,  it  clings  to  him  and  poisons  him,  soul 
and  body. 

CCLXXX.     Fear  of  Death  Overcome.     Ps.  cxliii. 

Thoimas  Bilney,  burned  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VHI., 
had,  at  first,  fear  of  death,  but  he  rose  above  it,  and  his 
behaviour  at  the  stake  made  a  great  impression  on  the 
people  :  "  He  made  his  private  prayer  with  such  earnest 
elevation  of  his  eyes  and  hands  to  heaven,  and  in  so  good 
and  quiet  behaviour,  that  he  seemed  not  to  consider  the 
terror  of  his  death  ;  and  ended  at  last  his  private  prayers 
with  the  Psalm  beginning,  'Hear  my  prayer,  O  Lord  !  con- 
sider my  desire  I '  And  the  next  verse  he  repeated  in  deep 
meditation  thrice  :  '  And  enter  not  into  judgment  with  Thy 
servant,  for  in  Thy  sight  shall  no  man  living  be  justified.' 
And  so,  finishing  that  Psalm,  he  ended  his  prayers." 

CCLXXXI.     An  Irish  Bishop.     Ps.  cxliv. 

From  this  Psalm,  being  the  Psalm  for  the  day,  Bishop 
Bedell  preached,  Jan.  30th,  1642,  in  the  midst  of  the  Irish 
Rebellion,  and  died  a  few  days  afterwards.  He  was  one 
of  the  best  men  of  his  time — humble,  devout,  self-sacrific- 
ing. The  Bible  which,  with  great  labour,  he  got  translated 
into  the  Irish  language,  was  for  a  long  time  the  one  chiefly 
in  use  among  the  Scottish  Highlanders;  it  was  not  till 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century  that  it  found  much 
entrance  into  Ireland.  All  classes  of  the  Irish  had  a  great 
regard  for  him.  His  last  sermon  was  preached  in  the 
house  of  a  converted  priest,  to  which  he  was  allowed  to 
retire  from  Castle  Oughterard,  County  Cavan,  wliere  he 
had  been  kept  a  prisoner.  He  lies  in  a  corner  of  Kilmore 
Churchyard,  close  to  a  large  sycamore  tree  which  he  him- 
self had  planted. 


i64  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCLXXXII.  The  Te  Deum  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Ps.  cxlv. 

The  tradition  about  the  Te  Daim  is  that  it  was  sung  by 
Ambrose  and  Augustine,  through  a  kind  of  inspiration — 
in  3S7 — when  they  met  at  Milan,  and  when  Augustine  was 
baptized  by  Ambrose.  The  truth  in  this  is  that  this  hymn, 
which  has  been  sung  in  so  many  countries  and  through  so 
many  centuries,  had  its  commencement  in  a  responsive 
Christian  song  which  Ambrose  introduced  from  the  Eastern 
into  the  Western  Church.  It  was  a  morning  psalm  of  praise, 
and  began,  "  Every  day  will  I  bless  Thee,  and  praise  Tliy 
name  for  ever  and  ever."  This  145th  Psalm  may  be  looked 
on,  therefore,  as  having  in  it  the  germ  of  the  wide-spread 
Christian  hymn,  and  as  being  itself  the  Te  Deum  of  the 
Old  Testament.  The  Jews  were  accustomed  to  say  that 
he  who  could  pray  this  Psalm  from  the  heart  three  times 
daily  was  preparing  himself  best  for  the  praise  of  the 
world  to  come. 

CCLXXXIII.    Christ's  Everlasting  Kingdom.    Ps. 

cxlv.  13.      "  TJiy  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom^ 

Voltaire  said,  "  In  twenty  years  Christianity  will  be  no 
more.  My  single  hand  shall  destroy  the  edifice  it  took 
twelve  apostles  to  rear."  Some  years  after  his  death,  his 
very  printing  press  was  employed  in  printing  New  Testa- 
ments, and  thus  spreading  abroad  the  Gospel.  Gibbon, 
who,  "with  solemn  sneer,"  devoted  his  gorgeous  history  to 
sarcasm  upon  Christ  and  His  followers,  his  estate  is  now  in 
the  hands  of  one  who  devotes  large  sums  to  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  very  truth  Gibbon  laboured  to  sap. 

CCLXXXIV.     A  Good   Man    of  the  Olden    Time. 
,  Ps.  cxlvi. 

In  1574  died  David  Home  of  VVedderburn,  a  gentleman  of 
good  account  in  Berwickshire,  and  father  of  David  Home 
of  Godscroft,  author  of  the  "  History  of  tlie  House  of 
Douglas."  He  died  in  the  50th  year  of  his  age,  of  con- 
sumption, being  the  first  of  his  family  for  i  long  period 
who  had  died  a  natural  death — all  the  rest  had  lost  their 
lives  in  the  defence  of  their  country.     He  was  a  man  re- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  165 


markable  for  piety  and  probity,  candour  and  integrity. 
He  had  the  Psalms,  and  especially  some  short  sentences 
of  them,  always  in  his  mouth,  such  as,  "  It  is  better  to  trust 
in  the  Lord  than  in  the  princes  of  the  earth,"  "  Our  hope 
ought  to  be  placed  in  God  alone."  He  delighted  particu- 
larly in  the  146th  Psalm,  and  sung  it,  playing  on  the  harp, 
with  the  most  sincere  and  unaffected  devotion. 

CCLXXXV.       The     Dairyman's     Daughter.      Ps. 

cxlviii.  8.     "  Wind  and  storm  ftdfilliiig  llis  Word." 

Among  the  voices  of  God's  providence  are  the  howling 
storm  and  the  roaring  sea.  A  pious  chaplain,  detained  by 
contrary  winds  at  the  Isle  of  Wight  over  the  Sunday, 
preached  that  day  in  one  of  the  churches  of  the  island. 
In  the  congregation  there  was  a  thoughtless  girl  who  had 
come  to  show  her  fine  clothes.  The  word  of  God  arrested 
her,  and  she  was  converted.  The  story  of  her  conversion 
is  the  narrative  of  the  "  Dairj'man's  Daughter,"  which  has 
gone  all  round  the  world,  and  the  fruit  of  the  sermon  is  a 
hundredfold. 

CCLXXXVI.    A  Pulpit  Beggar.    Ps.  cxlviii.  17.    ''Who 
can  sta?id  before  His  cold  1 " 

The  successor  of  Rowland  Hill  at  Surrey  Chapel  was  the 
famous  James  Sherman.  Mr.  Sherman  was  one  of  the  most 
skilful  and  successful  of  pulpit-beggars.  Give  him  a  good 
cause,  and  he  never  failed  to  get  money.  At  a  Fiiday 
morning  service,  on  one  occasion,  it  was  most  bitterly 
cold,  and  very  few  people  were  present.  The  intensity  of 
the  cold  had  suggested  his  text — Psalm  cxlviii.  17  :  "  Who 
can  stand  before  His  cold  ?"  In  the  course  of  his  remarks, 
he  alluded  to  the  pitiable  condition  of  the  poor  immediately 
around  the  chapel  ;  and  reminded  his  audience  that  if,  in 
their  comfortable  homes,  and  so  warmly  clothed,  they  felt 
it  so  difficult  to  "  stand  before  His  cold,"  what  must  it  be 
with  the  homeless  and  the  half-naked  .■'  The  appeal  was 
so  pertinent  and  so  resistless  that  a  considerable  contribu- 
tion was  offered  on  the  spot !  Measures  were  devised  for 
the  relief  of  the  poor,  a  brewhouse  was  turned  into  a  soup- 
kitchen,  and  for  months  eiicctual  relief  was  afforded  to 
thousands. 


l66  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCLXXXVII.    Three  Lessons  for  Children.    Prov, 

i.  8.     "  And  forsake  not  the  law  of  tliy  iiiotlicr. 

John  Ruskin,  in  countinfj  up  the  blc.s-;injj.s  of  his  child- 
hood, reckoned  these  three  for  first  good — I'cacc  :  he  liad 
been  taugiit  the  meaning  of  peace  in  thought,  act,  and 
word ;  had  never  heard  father's  or  mother's  voice  once 
raised  in  any  dispute,  nor  seen  an  angry  glance  in  the  eyes 
of  cither,  nor  had  ever  seen  a  moment's  trouble  or  disorder 
in  any  household  matter.  Next  to  this  he  estimates  obedi- 
ence— he  obeyed  word  or  lifted  finger  of  father  or  mother 
as  a  ship  her  helm,  without  an  idea  of  resistance.  And 
lastly  Faith — nothing  was  ever  promised  him  that  was  not 
given  ;  nothing  ever  threatened  him  that  was  not  indicted, 
and  nothing  ever  told  him  that  was  not  true. 

CCLXXXVIII.     Unconscious    Danger,      Prov.  i.  27. 
"  IV/ien  your  destruction  coineth  as  a  whirlwind." 

There  is  an  account  of  the  defeat,  forty  years  ago,  of  the 
troops  of  a  distinguished  general  in  Italy.  Having  taken 
their  stand  near  Terni,  where  the  waters  of  the  river  Velino 
rush  down  an  almost  perpendicular  precipice  of  three 
hundred  feet,  and  thence  toss  and  foam  along  through 
groves  of  orange  and  olive  trees  toward  the  Tiber,  into 
which  it  soon  empties,  they  attempted,  when  pressed  by 
the  Austrians,  to  make  their  escape  over  a  bridge  which 
spanned  the  stream  just  above  the  falls.  In  the  hurry  of 
the  moment,  and  all  unconscious  of  the  insufficient  strength 
of  the  structure,  they  rushed  upon  it  in  such  numbers  that 
it  suddenly  gave  way,  and  precipitated  hundreds  of  the 
shrieking  and  now  despairing  men  into  the  rapid  current 
below.  There  was  no  resisting  such  a  tide  when  once  on 
its  bosom.  With  frightful  velocity  they  were  borne  along 
toward  the  roaring  cataract  and  the  terrific  gulf  whence 
clouds  of  impenetrable  mist  never  ceased  to  rise.  A  mo- 
ment more,  and  they  made  the  awful  plunge  into  the 
fathomless  abyss,  from  which,  amid  the  roar  of  the  waters, 
no  cry  of  horror  could  be  heard,  no  bodies,  or  even  frag- 
ments of  bodies,  could  ever  be  rescued.  The  peril  was 
wholly  unsuspected,  but  none  the  less  real,  and  ending  in 
a  "  destruction  "  none  the  less  "swift." 

May  we  not  see  in  this  the  picture  of  a  great  throng  of 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  167 

immortal  men  in  respect  to  their  uwrnl  end  ?  It  sccnis 
generally  to  be  assumed  that,  in  our  relations  to  eternit)', 
there  is  no  danger  except  that  of  which  we  are  distinctly 
conscious, — which  we  see,  or  hear,  or  feel.  But  there  can- 
not be  a  greater  delusion.  It  would  be  equally  rational 
for  the  blind  man,  who  wanders  among  pit-falls,  or  on  the 
trembling  brink  of  some  frightful  prccii)icc,  to  infer  that 
there  is  no  danger  because  he  sees  none.  Insensibility  to 
danger  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  startling  characteristics 
of  the  sinner's  condition  by  nature,  just  as  insensibility  in 
a  mortal  disease  is  one  of  the  most  alarming  symptoms  of 
the  disease  itself. 


CCLXXXIX.     A  Providential    Escape.     Prov.  ii.  8. 

"  He  prescrvcth  the  way  of  His  saints.'" 

Mr.  J.  IliliP.S,  a  Methodist  preacher,  had  once  a  provi- 
dential escape,  which  he  tells  as  follows : — "  When  I  was 
stationed  in  Swansea,  in  the  year  1836,  I  was  appointed 
delegate  to  the  District  Meeting  held  at  St,  Ive.s,  Corn- 
wall. One  Captain  Gribblc  offered  me  a  passage  in  his 
vessel.  I  accepted  the  offer,  and  said,  '  VVhen  are  you 
going  out } '  He  replied,  '  We  have  got  our  cargo,  and 
shall  go  to-morrow  if  the  wind  is  fair.'  I  went  to  the 
dock  on  Monday,  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday  ;  the  wind 
was  still  against  him.  He  then  advised  me  to  take  the 
packet  to  Bristol,  as  he  said  it  was  quite  uncertain  when 
he  should  be  able  to  go  to  sea.  I  took  the  packet  on  the 
Thursday  morning.  We  had  a  very  rough  passage. 
Through  mercy  we  arrived  safe  in  Bristol  next  morning.  I 
took  coach  for  Exeter.  A  very  heavy  snow  fell  that  day. 
(It  was  on  Good  Friday;  the  district  meetings  were  held 
in  April.)  Saturday,  took  coach  for  Haylc.  On  our  way, 
in  going  up  a  certain  hill,  the  horses  ran  back  into  a  ditch 
and  upset  the  coach.  It  was  fortunate  that  there  was  a 
deal  of  snow,  so  that  no  one  was  hurt.  I  arrived  at  Haylc 
between  one  and  two  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning.  I  then 
walked  to  St.  Ives,  a  distance  of  five  miles.  I  went  to 
Mr.  Driffield's.  When  he  saw  me  he  said,  '  Is  Joseph  yet 
alive.'''  I  answered,  'Yes.'  He  further  said,  'We  were 
informed  you  were  coming  with  a  sailing  vessel,  and  it 
appears  she  is  lost,  for  some  of  the  wreck  is  come  on  shore 


i68  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

We  have  gone  through  the  stationing,  and  left  you  without 
a  station.'  I  was  given  to  understand  that  on  the  morning 
I  left  for  Bristol  the  vessel  went  out.  The  wind  was  fair, 
but  after  being  two  hours  at  sea,  all  went  to  the  bottom, 
captain  and  crew." 

CCXC.        A     Good     Man's     Diary.        Prov.    ii.    20. 

"  Walk  in  the  way  of  good  tne/i,  and  keep  the  paths  of  the 
righteous^ 

From  an  examination  of  Edwards'  diary,  we  can  account, 
humanly  speaking,  for  his  eminence  as  a  Christian.  Take 
these  extracts  for  example  : — 

^'Resolved, — Never  to  lose  one  moment  of  time,  but  to 
improve  it  in  the  most  profitable  way  I  possibly  can. 

"  Resolved, — To  live  with  all  my  might  while  I  do  live. 

^^  Resolved, — To  live  so  at  all  times,  as  I  think  best  in 
my  most  devout  frames,  and  when  I  have  the  clearest 
notions  of  the  things  of  the  gospel  and  another  world. 

"  Resolved, — To  study  the  Scriptures  so  steadily,  con- 
stantly, and  frequently,  as  that  I  may  find,  and  plainly 
perceive,  myself  to  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  the  same. 

"  Resolved, — To  ask  myself  at  the  end  of  every  day, 
week,  month,  and  year,  wherein  I  could  possibly  in  any 
respect  have  done  better. 

^'Resolved, — Never  to  give  over,  nor  in  the  least  to 
slacken  my  fight  with  my  corruption,  however  unsuccessful 
I  may  be. 

"  Resolved, — After  afflictions,  to  inquire  what  I  am  the 
better  for  them  ;  what  good  I  have  got  by  them  ;  and  what 
I  might  have  got  by  them. 

"  1  think  it  a  very  good  way  to  examine  dreams  every 
morning  when  I  awake  ;  what  are  the  nature,  circum- 
stances, principles,  and  ends  of  my  imaginary  actions  and 
passions  in  them,  in  order  to  discern  what  are  my  pre- 
vailing inclinations,  etc. 

"  How  it  comes  about  I  know  not,  but  I  have  remarked 
it  hitherto,  that  at  these  times  when  I  have  read  the 
Scriptures  most,  I  have  evermore  been  most  lively  and  in 
the  best  frame. 

"  Determined,  when  I  am  indisposed  to  prayer,  always 
to  premeditate  what  to  pray  for,  and  that  it  is  better  that 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  169 

the  prayer  should  be  of  almost  any  shortness  than  that  my 
mind  should  be  almost  continually  off  from  what  I  say. 

"  I  have  loved  the  doctrines  of  the  f^ospel ;  they  have 
been  to  my  soul  like  green  pastures.  The  way  of  salva- 
tion by  Christ  has  appeared  in  a  general  way  glorious  and 
excellent,  most  pleasant  and  most  beautiful.  It  has  often 
seemed  to  me  that  it  would  in  a  great  measure  spoil  heaven 
to  receive  it  in  anj-  other  way. 

"  There  are  very  few  requests  that  are  proper  for  an  im- 
penitent man  that  are  not  also,  in  some  sense,  proper  for 
the  godly. 

"  Though  God  has  forgiven  and  forgotten  your  past 
sins,  yet  do  not  forget  them  yourself ;  often  remember 
what  a  wretched  bond-slave  you  were  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 

"One  new  discovery  of  the  glory  of  Christ's  face  will  do 
more  toward  scattering  clouds  of  darkness  in  one  minute 
than  examining  old  experience,  by  the  best  marks  that 
can  be  given  through  a  whole  year." 

CCXCI.  Giving  a  Tenth  to  the  Lord.  Prov. 
iii.  9.  "  Honour  the  Lord  with  thy  substance,  and  with  the 
first  fruits  of  all  thine  iticrease" 

Mrs.  Isabella  Graham  had  received  ;^i,ooo  unexpec- 
tedly, and,  true  to  the  godly  habit  which  she  had  main- 
tained through  days  of  affluence  and  days  of  straitness, 
she  put  ;;^ioo  at  once  into  the  bag,  which  had  never 
received  so  large  a  sum  before.  The  circumstance  was 
never  mentioned  by  her ;  but  after  her  death  this  entry 
was  found  in  her  diary  :  "  Quick,  quick,  before  my  heart 
gets  hard." 

CCXCII.        In    the    Far    Country.        Prov.    iv.     14. 

"  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked,   and  go  fiot  in  the 
way  of  evil  men r 

The  following  is  a  strange  incident  in  the  early  life  of 
John  Welch,  who  became  one  of  the  saintliestof  Scotland's 
Reformed  pastors.  When  a  youth,  he  was  sent  to  the 
grammar-school,  probably  at  Dumfries  ;  but  so  deeply 
fixed  had  his  early  unsettled  habits  become,  that  he  proved 
insubordinate,  and  running  away  from  school,  joined  him- 


I70  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

self  to  some  robbers,  whom  he  accompanied  on  their  moss- 
trooping  expeditions  to  the  English  border. 

It  is  strange  to  find  one  afterwards  so  eminent  for  grace 
in  such  a  connection.  The  bold  fiery  spirit  he  then  evinced 
continued  through  life,  but  softened  by  deep  communion 
with  his  Master,  and  turned  into  other  and  better  channels. 
His  youthful  dreams  of  freedom  and  plenty,  as  is  usual  in 
parallel  cases,  came  to  a  speedy  conclusion.  The  expe- 
ditions, so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  were  barren  of  success, 
and  his  clothes  were  at  length  worn  to  rags.  The  rough 
camp- life,  with  its  exposure  to  all  weathers,  involuntary 
fastings,  and  sudden  alarms,  did  not  prove  so  agreeable  in 
reality  and  in  prospect,  and  like  his  prototype,  the  prodigal 
of  the  parable,  he  began  to  turn  relenting  and  longing 
thoughts  to  his  father's  house.  Indeed,  he  appears  really 
to  have  been  visited  in  that  far  country  of  famine  by  power- 
ful workings  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  seems  that  while  he 
came  to  himself,  he  began  to  turn  towards  God  as  well  as 
his  father's  house.  It  was  the  critical  turning-point,  the 
Hercules'  choice,  that  sooner  or  later,  and  in  some  form, 
comes  to  every  youth.  Young  Welch  made  a  sudden 
and  decided  resolve,  really,  we  think,  through  the  grace  of 
God,  whom  he  had  previously  despised.  He  escaped  from 
his  robber-companions  for  good  and  all,  and  set  out  with 
all  speed  for  his  father's  house.  But  the  elder  Welch  was 
not  a  man  to  be  trifled  with,  and  that  his  son  well  knew, 
and  the  difficulty  of  facing  him  grew  more  formidable  the 
nearer  he  came  to  his  house.  At  length,  arrived  at  the 
town  of  Dumfries,  that  lay  on  his  way,  he  betook  himself 
to  the  house  of  his  aunt,  Agnes  Fors\th,  to  whom  he  com- 
municated his  sad  plight.  There  he  sta}'ed  for  some  days, 
not  daring  to  return  home.  Meantime  his  father  arrived 
on  business  in  Dumfries,  and  having  called  on  his  cousin, 
Mrs.  Forsyth,  they  sat  and  talked  a  while.  At  length  she 
said,  "  Have  you  ever  heard  any  news  of  your  son  John  t " 

**  O  cruel  woman  !  "  exclaimed  the  father  with  a  burst 
of  sorrow,  "  how  can  you  name  him  to  me  ?  The  first 
news  I  expect  to  hear  of  him  is  that  he  is  hanged  for  a 
thief" 

"  Many  a  profligate  boy,"  she  answered,  "has  become  a 
virtuous  man." 

But  the  father  refused  all  the  comfort  she  continued   to 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  17 r 

give,  and  at  length  suspecting  something,  he  asked  wliethcr 
she  knew  his  lost  son  was  yet  alive. 

She  answered.  Yes,  he  was,  and  she  hoped  he  should 
prove  a  better  man  than  he  was  a  boy  ;  and  with  that  she 
called  upon  him  to  come  to  his  father.  He  came  with 
every  mark  of  heartfelt  grief;  and  weeping,  he  kneeled 
and  besought  his  father  for  Christ's  sake  to  pardon  his 
misbehaviour,  and  engaged  to  become  a  new  man.  His 
father,  however,  received  him  with  reproaches  and  threats  ; 
but  at  length,  through  the  importunate  mediation  of  his 
cousin,  and  his  own  paternal  relenting  feelings,  he  was 
persuaded  to  receive  him  back  to  favour. 

CCXCIII.     Running  from  Sin.     Prov.  iv.  15.     ^^  Avoid 
it,  pass  not  by  it,  turn  from  it,  and  pass  away." 

A  LITTLE  girl,  in  the  days  when  the  conversion  of  children 
was  not  the  subject  of  as  much  prayer  as  now,  applied  for 
membership  in  a  Baptist  Church.  "  Were  you  a  sinner," 
asked  an  old  deacon,  "  before  this  change  of  which  you 
now  speak?"  "Yes,  sir,"  she  replied.  "Well,  are  you 
now  a  sinner!"  "Yes,  sir;  I  feel  I  am  a  greater  sinner 
than  ever."  "  Then  what  change  is  there  in  you  .-'  "  "  I 
don't  quite  know  how  to  explain  it,"  she  said  ;  "  but  I 
used  to  be  a  sinner  running  after  sin,  and  now  I  hope  I 
am  a  sinner  running  from  sin."  They  received  her,  and 
for  years  she  was  a  bright  and  shining  light,  and  now  she 
lives  where  there  is  no  sin  to  run  from. 

CCXCIV.  A  Contrast.  Prov.  i v.  18.  "  The  path  of  the 
just  is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth  more  and  more  unto 
the  perfect  day." 

William  Wilberforce,  in  his  old  age,  meeting  one  of 
the  companions  of  his  youth  whom  he  had  not  seen  for 
many  years,  went  up  to  him  and  said,  "You  and  I,  my 
lord,  were  well  acquainted  formerly."  "Ah,  Mr.  Wilber- 
force!" he  replied,  cordiall}' ;  and  then  added,  "you  and  I 
are  a  great  many  years  older  now."  "Yes,  we  are."  re- 
turned the  aged  disciple  of  Christ ;  "  and  for  my  part  I  can 
truly  say  that  I  do  not  regret  it."  "  Don't  you!"  exclaimed 
the  nobleman,  with  an  eager  and  almost  incredulous  voice, 
and  a  look  of  wondering  dejection. 


172  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

How  affecting  and  characteristic  the  contrast.  The  aged 
Christian  cheerful,  the  aged  nobleman  sad  ;  the  heaven- 
born  child  of  God  hopeful,  the  high-born  cliild  of  earth 
desponding  ;  the  one  gladdened  by  the  bright  and  brighten- 
ing glory  of  his  faith  and  love,  the  other  dismayed  to  find 
light  after  light  going  out,  and  darkness  thickening  around  ; 
the  one  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  being  ever  with  the  Lord, 
the  other  trembling  at  the  very  thought  of  the  world  to 
come. 

CCXCV.      Boys'    Temptations.      Prov.  iv.  27.     ''Re- 
move thy  foot  fro7n  evil." 

Fuller  was  only  a  boy  of  sixteen  when  he  became  known 
as  a  professed  follower  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  temptations, 
therefore,  which  assailed  him  at  the  outset,  were  boys' 
temptations.  For  example,  as  the  spring  of  1770  came  on, 
the  young  people  of  the  town  met  as  usual  in  the  evenings 
for  youthful  exercises  ;  and  on  the  occasion  of  a  wake  or  a 
feast,  there  were  special  "on-goings."  In  these  the  young 
disciple  had  formerly  taken  his  part.  Now,  however,  he 
shunned  them  as  injurious  to  his  spiritual  "interests;" 
and  he  tells  us,  that  to  avoid  being  drawn  into  them,  or 
being  harassed  by  even  the  sound  of  them  reaching  his 
ears,  he  began  a  practice  which  he  continued  with  great 
peace  and  comfort  for  several  years.  "  Whenever  a  feast 
or  holiday  occurred,  instead  of  sitting  at  home  by  myself, 
I  went  to  a  neighbouring  village  to  visit  some  Christian 
friend,  and  returned  when  all  was  over.  By  this  step  I 
was  delivered  from  those  mental  participations  in  folly 
which  had  given  me  so  much  uneasiness.  Thus  the  seasons 
of  temptation  became  to  me  times  of  refresliing  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord."  This  was,  indeed,  being  more  than 
a  conqueror — turning  what  might  have  been  an  occasion 
of  sin  into  a  means  of  grace.  It  was  a  walking  in  the 
Spirit,  that  he  might  not  be  seduced  into  fulfilling  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh. 

CCXCVI.  The  Wild  Huntsman.  Prov.  v.  22.  "His 
own  iniquities  shall  take  the  wicked  hiffisc/f,  and  he  shall  be 
holden  with  the  cords  of  his  sins. 

The  Germans  have   an  ancient   mythical    legend  which, 
with  its  fearful  imagery,  teaches  an  impressive  lesson.     A 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  173 

nobleman,  with  horse  and  hounds,  sets  forth  on  the  Sab- 
bath for  a  hunting  excursion.  The  church  bells,  sounding 
out  on  the  air  their  invitations  to  worship,  call  him  in  vain, 
as  he  passes.  On  his  right  a  shadowy  rider,  on  a  white 
horse,  attending  him,  pleads  with  him  to  desist  from  his 
madness  ;  while  on  the  left  a  black-visaged  companion, 
bestriding  a  black  steed,  urges  on  the  chase.  So  on  he 
dashes,  over  highway  and  field,  trampling  down  harvests 
and  flocks,  scoffing  at  the  cries  of  the  husbandman,  till 
invading  the  sacred  seclusion  of  a  holy  man,  he  is  doomed 
to  continue  the  Jiunt  for  ever.  Then  suddenly  the  glare  of 
an  unearthly  light  flashes  on  field  and  grove.  The  lieavens 
darken  with  storm-clouds  overhead,  and  the  earth  opens 
beneath.  Demon  fingers  reach  up  from  below  toward  the 
terrified  rider ;  while  howling  hell-hounds  spring  from 
yawning  abysses  to  pursue  him.  So,  with  ghastly  face, 
ever  turned  backwai'ri  in  horror,  amidst  curses  resounding 
through  all  the  air,  he  rides  from  age  to  age,  the  race  of 
death. 

It  is  but  a  feeble  and  shadowy  image  of  the  meaning  of 
those  words  of  Biblical  forewarning:  "His  own  iniquity 
shall  take  the  wicked  himself,  and  he  shall  be  holden  in 
the  cords  of  his  sins."  How  often  an  infatuated  worldling 
is  startled  for  a  moment,  half  resolved  to  break  from  the 
bondage  of  sin  ;  then,  yielding  to  the  old  fascination  again, 
he  rushes  on,  and  *'  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than 
the  first." 

CCXCVII.    The   Fatal  Grasp.    Prov.  vi.  15.    "Wilhout 
remedy,  suddaily  shall  he  be  broken" 

Travellers  who  visit  the  Falls  of  Niagara  are  directed 
to  a  spot  on  the  margin  of  the  precipice  over  the  boiling 
current  below,  where  a  gay  young  lady  a  few  years  since 
lost  her  life.  She  was  delighted  with  the  wonders  of  the 
unrivalled  scene ;  and  ambitious  to  pluck  a  flower  from  a  clifi" 
where  no  human  hand  had  before  ventured,  as  a  memorial 
of  her  own  daring,  she  leant  over  the  verge  and  caught 
a  glimpse  of  the  surging  waters  far  down  the  battlement  of 
rocks,  while  fear  for  a  moment  held  her  motionless.  But 
there  hung  the  lovely  blossom  upon  which  her  heart  was 
fixed,  and  her  arm  was  outstretched  to  grasp  the  beautiful 
flower.     The  turf  yielded  to  her  pressure,  and  with  a  shriek 


174  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

she  descended  like  a  fallen  star  to  the  rocky  shore,  and 
was  borne  away  gasping  in  deatli. 

Every  hour  life's  sands  are  sliding  from  beneath  in- 
cautious feet ;  and,  with  sin's  fatal  flower  in  the  unconscious 
hand,  the  trifler  goes  to  his  doom. 

CCXCVIII.  The  Ochre  Spring.  Prov.  vi,  27,  28.  ''Can 
a  man  take  fire  in  his  bosom,  and  his  clothes  not  be  burned  1 
Can  one  go  upon  hot  coals,  and  his  feet  not  be  burned  ?" 

On  the  moors  of  Yorkshire  there  is  a  stream  of  water, 
which  goes  by  the  name  of  the  "  Ochre  Spring."  It  rises 
high  up  in  the  hills,  and  runs  on  bright  and  sparkling  for 
a  short  distance,  when  it  suddenly  becomes  a  dark  and 
muddy  yellow.  What  is  the  reason  of  this  ?  Why,  it  has 
been  passing  through  a  bed  of  ochre,  and  so  it  flows  on 
for  miles,  thick  and  sluggish,  useless  and  unpleasant.  The 
world  is  full  of  such  "  beds  of  ochre."  Fairs  and  races, 
sinful  companions,  bad  books — all  such  things  are  just  like 
beds  of  ochre  ;  connection  with  them  is  pollution. 

CCXCIX.     Purity   of  Character.     Prov.  vii.  i.     ''My 
son,  keep  my  words,  atid  lay  up  my  com?nandme/its  7vith  thee." 

There  grows  a  bloom  and  beauty,  over  the  beauty  of  the 
plum  and  apricot,  more  exquisite  than  the  fruit  itself — a 
soft,  delicate  flush  that  overspreads  its  blushing  cheek. 
Now,  if  you  strike  your  hand"  over  that,  it  is  gone  for  ever ; 
for  it  never  grows  but  once.  The  flower  that  hangs  in  the 
morning  impearled  with  dew,  arrayed  as  a  queenly  woman 
never  was  arrayed  with  jewels  :  once  shake  it  so  that  the 
beads  roll  off,  and  you  may  sprinkle  water  over  it  as  you 
please,  yet  it  can  never  be  made  again  what  it  was  when 
the  dew  fell  silently  on  it  from  heaven.  On  a  frosty  morn- 
ing you  may  see  panes  of  glass  covered  with  landscapes — 
mountains,  lakes,  and  trees,  blended  in  a  beautiful,  fan- 
tastic picture.  Now,  lay  your  hand  upon  the  glass,  and  by 
a  scratch  of  your  finger,  or  by  the  warmth  of  your  palm, 
all  the  delicate  tracery  will  be  obliterated.  So  there  is  in 
youth  a  beauty  and  purity  of  character  which,  when  once 
touched  and  defiled,  can  never  be  restored — a  fringe  more 
delicate  than  frostwork,  and  which,  when  torn  and  broken, 
will  never  be  re-embroidered.     He  who  has  spotted  and 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  173 


soiled  his  garments  in  youtli,  though  he  may  seek  to  make 
them  wliite  ap^ain,  can  never  wholly  do  it,  even  were  he  to 
wash  them  with  his  tears.  When  a  young  man  leaves  his 
father's  house,  with  the  blessing  of  a  mother's  tears  still 
wet  upon  his  brow,  if  he  once  lose  that  early  purity  of 
character,  it  is  a  spot  that  he  can  never  make  whole  again. 
Such  is  the  consequence  of  crime.  Its  effects  cannot  be 
eradicated  ;  it  can  only  be  forgiven. 

CCC.      A    Young    Man  Void    of    Understanding. 

Prov.  vii.  7.      '■'■  1  discerned  among  the  youths  a  young  man 
void  of  understanding. 

The  late  Rev.  Dr.  Bedell,  father  of  Bishop  Bedell,  of  Ohio, 
was  a  very  excellent  Episcopal  preacher  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  He  was  full  of  love  for  Christ  and  the  souls 
of  men,  and  under  his  preaching  many  were  turned  to 
righteousness  who  are  now  stars  in  his  crown  of  rejoicing. 
As  the  crowd  in  his  church  one  evening  were  waiting  for 
the  sermon,  and  the  glowing-hearted  minister  stood  in  the 
holy  place  ready  to  begin,  a  young  stranger  entered  the 
door  of  the  church  just  in  time  to  catch  the  words  of  this 
text.  He  was  a  wild,  thoughtless,  wicked  youth,  who  had 
been  invited  to  go  and  hear  Dr.  Bedell.  But  he  had  re- 
fused, with  the  profane  remark  that  he  would  not  go  to 
church  to  hear  Jesus  Christ  himself.  This  evening  he  was 
walking  by  the  church,  and  an  impulse,  sudden  and  irre- 
sistible, urged  him  in.  As  he  stood  inside  of  the  door.  Dr. 
Bedell  announced  as  his  text,  "  I  discerned  among  the 
youths  a  young  man  void  of  understanding." 

The  text  was  a  sermon.  It  was  the  word  of  God, 
sharper  than  a  two-edged  sword.  It  discerned  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  his  heart.  The  Spirit  of  God  sent  it  home 
to  his  conscience.  He  had  been  an  unbeliever  and  despiser 
of  the  gospel ;  but  the  eyes  of  his  mind  were  opened.  He 
had  been  a  profligate  ;  his  sins  were  set  in  order  before 
him.  He  was  struck  through  as  with  a  dart,  when  the 
folly  and  madness  of  his  past  life  were  revealed  m  the  light 
of  the  gospel.  The  faithful  preacher  unfolded  the  exceed- 
ing foolishness  of  a  life  of  sensual  pleasure,  idleness, 
frivolity,  and  the  inevitable  end  of  such  a  career.  It  is 
recorded   of  this   young   man  that  he  became  a  regular 


176  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

attendant  on  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Bedell,  a  member  of  his 
Church,  and  a  useful  Christian. 

CCCI.       A    Pious    Son.        Prov.  viii.  17.      "/  love  them 
that  love  Me  ;  and  those  that  seek  Me  early  shall  find  Me." 

This  incident  is  found  in  the  life  of  Reginald  Heber,  Lord 
Bishop  of  Calcutta.  "  One  day  when  Reginald  was  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  his  mother  missed  her  '  Companion  to  the 
Altar.'  Search  was  made  for  it  among  all  the  servants,  but 
it  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  After  three  weeks'  fruitless 
inquiry,  it  was  given  up  as  lost,  till  at  length  she  happened 
to  mention  it  to  Reginald,  who  immediately  brought  it  to 
her,  saying  it  had  deeply  interested  him  ;  and  he  begged 
permission  to  accompany  his  mother  to  the  altar  when  the 
sacrament  was  next  administered.  Penetrated  with  grati- 
tude to  God  for  giving  her  so  pious  a  son,  Mrs.  fleber 
burst  into  tears  of  joy  as  she  cheerfully  assented  to  his 
request. 

CCCII.     A  Successful  Life.     Prov.  x.  7.     ^^  The  memory 
of  the  just  is  blessed.^' 

Early  in  life  the  late  Earl  Cairns'  interest  in  spiritual 
things  began,  and  his  love  for  the  Bible  and  the  means 
of  grace.  There  was  all  through  his  life  a  gradual 
growth  in  grace,  "  going  and  growing "  "  from  strength  to 
strength  ; "  "  the  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light, 
that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day."  When 
a  little  boy,  he  wrote  for  the  Church  Missionary  Gleaner. 
One  treatise  on  Psalm  xiv.  was  considered  very  remarkable, 
in  which  he  went  into  details  on  the  spiritual  meaning  of 
the  verses.  When  twenty-three  he  always  rose  at  four 
a.m.,  in  order  to  give  time  to  God's  Word  and  prayer 
before  his  legal  work  at  six.  For  years  after  his  marriage 
he  conducted  family  prayers  at  7.45  a.m.  His  invariable 
rule  was  to  rise  one  hour  and  a  half  before  that  time  to 
read  the  Bible  and  pray.  This  early  rising  continued 
during  his  busy  life  at  the  Bar,  and  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  though  often  not  more  than  two  hours  in  bed. 
What  a  lesson  this  is  to  us  all !  Surely  this  was  the  secret 
of  his  successful  life,  that  he  would  allow  nothing  to  come 
between  him  and  God,  and  would  not  lose  the  quiet  time 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  177 

alone  with  his  Father  in  the  early  morning.  His  Hfe  \va« 
a  life  of  prayer  and  dependence  upon  God.  Ikfore  any 
work  which  required  more  than  the  usual  effort  and  wisdom 
he  spent  time  in  special  prajcr.  He  never  went  to  a 
Cabinet  Council  or  spoke  on  any  important  matter  without 
first  waiting  upon  God  in  private  and  earnest  prayer. 

In  his  dying  hours  he  showed  the  power  which  the  Gospel 
exercised  upon  his  soul.  He  conversed  with  those  around 
him  up  to  the  last  moment  almost,  in  a  calm  and  peaceful 
tone,  indicating  the  depth  of  his  trust  in  Christ  as  his 
Saviour. 

CCCIII.     Acorn   Shells.     Prov.   x.  4.     ''The  hand  of  the 
diligent  niaketh  richJ' 

On  many  parts  of  our  coasts,  between  high- water  and  low- 
water  marks,  the  rocks  and  stones  are  to  be  found  encrusted 
all  over  with  a  peculiar  little  shell-fish.  It  has  no  power, 
like  the  limpet  and  other  such  creatures,  to  move  about 
from  place  to  place  in  search  of  food,  at  least  in  this  the 
perfect  stage  of  its  existence  ;  but  wherever  it  first  settles 
and  begins  to  grow,  there  it  must  remain  rooted  to  the  spot. 
But  like  every  other  living  thing,  it  waits  not  in  vain  upon 
God,  who,  in  accordance  with  the  nature  and  habits  He 
has  given  it,  sends  it  also  its  meat  in  due  season. 

When  the  tide  is  out  and  the  rocks  are  left  dry,  the 
little  acorn  shell  is  closed  and  motionless  ;  but  when  the 
advancing  water  begins  to  wash  over  it,  immediately  the 
jointed  shell  is  opened,  and  rapidly  and  regularly  the  little 
creature  casts  forth  its  silver  net  into  the  tide,  seeking 
diligently  to  gather  the  provision  which  the  open  and 
liberal  hand  of  the  great  Creator  brings  within  the  reach  of 
the  tiniest  of  His  creatures. 

It  is  a  beautiful  sight  on  a  calm  summer  day,  to  look 
down  through  the  still,  clear  water,  on  the  side  of  a  rock 
covered  with  acorn  shells,  at  the  busy  little  hands  waving 
and  grasping  in  all  directions  with  the  utmost  grace  and 
agility. 

CCCIV.     Waiting  upon   God.     Prov.  xi.  18.     ''To  him 
that  soiveth  righteousness,  shall  be  a  sure  reivard." 

A  Christian  minister  was  holding  a  revival  meeting  in 

N 


178  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Edinburgh  several  years  ago,  when  the  president  of  an 
infidel  society  came  into  the  place  and  tried  not  only  to 
ridicule  what  was  going  on,  but  to  prevent  persons  coming 
forward  to  ask  prayer.  The  minister  went  up  to  the  man 
and  said,  "  Are  you  a  Christian  ?  "  He  replied,  "  No,  I  am 
not."  "Do  you  want  to  be  a  Christian.''"  The  man 
gruffly  answered,  "  No,  I  do  not."  The  minister  was 
touched,  and  affectionately  said,  "  Well,  shall  we  kneel  down 
and  pray  together?"  The  man  exclaimed,  "What  is  the 
good?  I  do  not  believe  in  prayer!"  The  minister  gently 
replied,  "  Well,  but  allow  me  to  kneel  down  and  pray  for 
you."  "You  may  do  so  if  you  like,  but  it  will  be  of  no 
benefit,  for  I  do  not  believe  in  it."  The  minister  knelt 
down  and  prayed,  and  after  prayer  the  infidel  president 
said,  "  I  do  not  feel  any  different."  The  minister  replied 
as  he  left  him,  "  Ah,  wait  a  while  !  God  sometimes  takes 
His  own  time." 

Two  years  afterwards  the  minister  met  the  same  man, 
who  exclaimed,  "  You  see,  I  am  just  the  same  ;  I  am  not 
different;  your  prayer  was  no  use!"  The  minister  said, 
"  Ah,  my  friend,  we  will  still  wait  upon  God  !  "  Well,  some 
time  afterwards,  the  president  of  the  infidel  society  was 
convinced  of  his  error,  and  entered  a  religious  meeting,  and 
when  it  was  asked,  "  Does  any  person  present  desire  our 
prayers  .^ "  he  stood  up,  and  in  heart-broken  tones  desired 
them  to  pray  to  God  for  his  soul.  The  same  day  he  gave 
his  heart  to  God,  and  became  a  devout  and  exemplary 
Christian. 

CCCV.      Dynamite.      Prov.  xi.   19.      "•  He  that  ^ursueth 

evil pursueth  it  to  his  otvn  death." 

An  American  minister,  towards  the  close  of  his  sermon, 
introduced  a  very  powerful  and  dramatic  illustration. 
"Down  by  Hell  Gate"  (in  allusion  to  some  well-known 
place  where  certain  blasting  was  to  be  carried  out),  "the 
rock  is  tunnelled,  and  deep  under  the  solid  masses  over 
which  men  walk  with  such  careless  security,  there  are  now 
laid  trains  of  explosive  powder.  All  seems  so  safe  and 
firm  outwardly,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  that  those 
solid  masses  will  ever  be  shaken  ;  but  the  time  will  come 
when  a  tiny  spark  will  fire  the  whok  train,  and  the  moun- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  179 

tain  will  be  in  a  moment  rent  in  the  air  and  torn  to  atoms. 
There  are  men,"  he  said,  looking  round — and  a  kind  of 
shudder  went  through  the  assembly — "  there  are  men  here 
who  are  tunnelled,  mined  ;  their  time  will  come,  not  to-day 
or  to-morrow,  not  for  months  or  years  perhaps,  but  it  will 
come;  in  a  moment,  from  an  unforeseen  quarter,  a  trifling 
incident,  their  reputations  will  be  blown  to  atoms,  and  what 
they  have  sown  they  will  reap — -just  that.  There  is  no 
dynamite  like  men's  lusts  and  passions." 

CCCVI.      No    Deaths   from    Benevolence.      Prov. 

xi.  24.  "  There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  increaseth  ;  and 
there  is  that  witholdcth  more  than  is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  to 
poverty." 

An  eminent  layman,  in  making  a  platform  missionary 
speech  said,  "  I  have  heard  of  Churches  starving  out  from 
a  saving  spirit  ;  but  I  have  never  heard  of  one  dying  of 
benevolence.  And  if  I  could  hear  of  one  such,  I  would 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  it,  by  night,  and  in  that  quiet  solitude, 
with  the  moon  shining  and  the  aged  elm  waving,  I  would 
put  my  hands  on  the  moss-clad  ruins,  and  gazing  on  the 
venerable  scene  would  say,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  w^ho  die 
in  the  Lord." 

CCCVII.      A  Small  Offering.    Prov.  xi.  24.      ''There  is 
that  witholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  to  poi'erty." 

Dr.  Hall  tells  the  story  of  a  Scotchman  who  sung  most 
piously  the  hymn, — 

"  Were  the  whole  reahn  of  nature  mine, 
That  were  a  present  far  too  small," 

and  all  through  the  singing  was  fumbling  in  his  pocket 
to  make  sure  of  the  smallest  piece  of  silver  for  the  con- 
tribution-box. 

CCCVIII.      The  Widow  and  the  Sovereign.     Prov. 
xi.  24.     "  There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  increaseth." 

At  a  missionary  meeting  held  soon  after  the  accession  of 
our  present  Queen,  one  of  the  speakers  related  an  anecdote 
concerning  the  Duchess  of  Kent  and  her  royal  daughter, 


l8o  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

which  well  illustrates  how  comfort  and  profit  may  attend 
giving  liberally  to  the  Lord.  About  fifty  }'ears  ago  there 
was  a  lighthouse  on  the  southern  coast,  which  was  kept  by 
a  certain  godly  widow,  who,  not  knowing  how  otherwise 
to  aid  the  missionary  cause,  resolved  that  during  the 
summer  season  she  would  place  in  the  box  the  total  of  one 
day's  gratuities  received  from  visitors.  Among  the  callers 
on  a  particular  day  was  a  lady  attired  as  a  widow  accom- 
panied by  a  little  girl ;  and  it  appears  that  the  two  widows, 
drawn  together  as  it  were  by  common  sympathy,  conversed 
on  their  bereavements,  tears  mingling  with  their  words. 
On  leaving,  the  lady  left  a  sovereign  with  her  humble 
friend,  and  that  day  was  the  one  set  apart  for  placing  all 
receipts  into  the  missionary-box  !  The  widow  was  thrown 
into  a  state  of  perplexity,  poverty  seeming  to  plead  on  the 
one  hand,  while  her  pledged  word  confronted  her  on  the 
other.  After  thinking  about  the  thing  for  some  time,  she 
put  half  a  crown  in  the  box  ;  but  on  retiring  to  rest,  found 
conscience  sufficiently  lively  to  deprive  her  of  sleep.  To 
obtain  relief,  she  now  rose,  took  back  the  silver  and  sur- 
rendered the  gold,  after  which  rest  returned  to  her  eyelids, 
and  in  the  morning  she  felt  comforted  and  refreshed.  The 
matt^  occasioned  no  further  trouble,  but  a  i^w  days  after- 
wards the  widow  received  a  franked  letter  containing  ;!^20 
from  the  elder  lady  above  mentioned,  and  £'^  from  the 
younger;  the  first  turning  out  to  have  been  the  Duchess 
of  Kent,  and  the  other  the  Princess  Victoria,  who  now 
occupies  the  British  throne. 

CCCIX.     How    to    Win    Souls.     Prov.  xi.  30.      ''He 

that  wiimdh  souls  is  wise." 

Two  clergymen  were  settled  in  their  youth  in  contiguous 
parishes.  The  congregation  of  the  one  had  become  very 
much  broken  and  scattered,  while  that  of  the  other  remained 
large  and  strong.  At  a  ministerial  gathering,  Dr.  A.  said 
to  Dr.  B.,  "  Brother,  how  has  it  happened  that  while  I  have 
laboured  as  diligently  as  you  have,  and  preached  better 
sermons,  and  more  of  them,  my  parish  has  been  scattered 
to  the  winds,  and  yours  remains  strong  and  unbroken  .'' " 
Dr.  B.  facetiously  replied,  "  Oh,  I'll  tell  you,  brother. 
When  you  go  fishing,  you  just  get  a  great  rough  pole  for  a 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


handle,  to  which  you  attach  a  large  cod  line  and  a  great 
hook,  and  twice  as  much  bait  as  the  fish  can  swallow. 
With  these  you  dash  up  to  the  brook  and  throw  in  your 
hook  with,  '  There,  bite,  you  dogs  ! '  Thus  you  scare  away 
all  the  fish.  When  I  go  fishing,  I  get  a  little  switching 
pole,  a  small  line,  and  just  such  a  hook  and  bait  as  the  fish 
can  swallow.  Then  I  creep  up  to  the  brook  and  gently 
slip  them  in,  and  I  twitch  them  out  till  my  basket  is  full." 

Said  the  poet  Cowper  in  a  letter  to  Rev.  J.  Newton, 
"  No  man  was  ever  scolded  out  of  his  sins.  The  heart, 
corrupt  as  it  is,  and  because  it  is  so,  grows  angry  if  it  be 
not  treated  with  some  management  and  good  manners,  and 
scolds  again." 

CCCX.  Kindness  to  Animals.  Prov.  xii.  lo.  *^ A 
ru^hteous  man  rej;ai'deth  the  life  of  his  beast ;  but  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  ivicked  are  cruel .^^ 

Francis  of  Assisi  was  a  passionate  lover  of  nature.  Each 
living  thing  was  a  brother  or  sister  to  him  in  a  sense  where 
almost  ceased  to  be  figurative.  Birds,  insects,  fishes  wich 
his  friends  and  even  his  congregations ;  doves  were  his 
especial  favourites.  He  gathered  them  into  his  convents, 
and  taught  them  to  eat  out  of  his  hand,  and  laid  them  in 
his  bosom.  "  My  dear  sisters,"  he  exclaimed  to  some 
starlings  who  chattered  round  him  as  he  preached,  "  you 
have  talked  long  enough  :  it  is  my  turn  now.  Listen  to 
the  word  of  your  Creator,  and  be  quiet  !"  His  biographer, 
Bonaventura,  gives  the  very  sermon  addressed  by  the  Saint 
to  this  audience.  "  My  little  sisters,"  it  began,  "you  should 
love  and  praise  the  Author  of  your  beings  who  has  clothed 
you  with  plumage  and  given  you  wings  to  fly  when  you^ 
will.  You  were  the  first  created  of  all  animals  ;  you  sow 
not,  neither  do  you  reap.  Without  any  care  of  your  own 
He  gives  you  all.  Therefore  give  praise  to  your  bountiful 
Creator ! 

The  well-known  instinct  by  which  animals  discover  and 
attach  themselves  to  their  rational  friends  was  exhibited 
whenever  Francis  came  abroad.  The  leveret  did  not  seek 
to  escape  his  notice.  The  half-frozen  bees  crawled  to  him 
in  winter  time  to  be  fed.  A  lamb  followed  him  even  into 
the  city  of  Rome.  The  wild  falcon  wheeled  and  fluttered 
round  him. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


CCCXI.     A  Wise  Father.     Prov.  xiii.  i.     "■A  wise  son 
heareth  his  father's  instrieciio?i." 

Mr.  Haweis,  in  "Winged  Words,"  counsels  fathers  to 
make  friends  of  their  children,  and  relates  this  anecdote : 
"  A  young  man  said  to  me  the  other  day,  '  Father's  old- 
fashioned  ;  he  doesn't  know  how  money's  made  now.  In 
his  day  people  went  slow  in  order  not  to  lose.  Now  we 
go  fast  and  win.' 

"  '  So,'  I  said,  '  I  am  glad  to  hear  that ;  but  are  you  quite 
sure  ?'  and  the  young  fellow  laughed  and  went  away. 
Some  weeks  after  I  met  the  father;  he  said,  'John  has 
lost  me  ;£'i,ooo.'  'How  is  that.'''  'He  has  had  his 
lesson,  but  I  have  had  to  pay  for  it,'  said  the  father.  '  He 
thought  he  knew  better  than  I  did,  and  could  make  money 
fast :  "  Give  me  a  thousand,  and  I  will  turn  it  over  in  a 
week,  father."  "  My  dear  boy,"  I  said,  "  I  saw  through 
this  scheme  twenty  years  ago !  "  But  John  would  not  be 
convinced.  So  I  thought — well,  I  can  afford  to  lose;^i,ooo, 
and  the  lesson  may  be  worth  more  than  that  to  John.  So 
I  gave  him  the  money,  and  said,  "John,  you  will  lose  it." 
A  week  later  he  comes  to  me :  "  Father,  it's  gone  !  all 
gone !"  and  he  sits  down  and  breaks  out  sobbing.  He 
thought  I  should  be  very  angry,  but  I  only  said,  "  I'm 
right  glad  to  hear  it,"  and  I  said  no  more.  John  has  learnt 
his  lesson,  and  is  not  going  to  speculate  any  more.' " 

CCCXII.  Slow  to  Wrath.  Prov.  xiv.  29.  "He  that  is 
slotv  to  wrath  is  of  great  understanding :  but  he  that  is  hasty 
of  spirit  exalteth  folly." 

*'GiACOMO  Benincasa,  the  father  of  that  fairest  of  pre- 
Reformation  Saints,  St.  Catherine  of  Sienna,  was  a  just 
and  upright  man,  ruling  his  spirit  in  the  fear  of  God,  and 
with  a  temper  as  even  as  a  calm.  If  he  saw  any  of  his 
household  vexed  and  jarred,  he  would  say  cheerfully, 
'  Now  then,  don't  put  yourself  out,  or  give  way  to  unkind- 
ness,  and  God  will  bless  you."  And  once  when  brought  to 
the  brink  of  ruin  by  an  enemy,  he  still  preserved  his  sweet- 
ness of  spirit,  and  would  calm  his  wife's  complaints  by 
saying,  "  I.et  him  alone,  dear  ;  let  him  alone,  and  God  will 
bless  you,  and  show  him  his  error," 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  183 

CCCXIII.  Impatience.  Prov.  xiv.  29.  '■'■He  tJiat  is  slow 
to  unatJi  is  of  i:;reat  understa/iding :  but  he  that  is  hasty  of 
spirit  exa/tc'th  folly." 

Rev.  Thomas  Scott,  having  gone  on  board  a  packet  on 
one  occasion  when  it  did  not  sail  at  all  punctually  to  the 
time  which  had  been  named,  sat  down  to  read  in  the 
cabin.  A  gentleman  who  had  expressed  much  impatience 
and  displeasure  at  the  delay,  at  length  addressed  himself 
to  him,  observing  that  his  quietness  was  quite  provoking  ; 
that  he  seemed  ready  to  put  up  with  an}thing.  His  reply 
was  :  "  Sir,  I  dare  say  I  shall  get  to  the  end  of  our  voyage 
just  as  soon  as  you  will !" 

CCCXIV.  A  Soft  Answer.  Prov.  xv.  i.  '■^  A  soft  ansiver 
tiirneth  away  wrath  ;  but  grievous  words  stir  up  anger." 

A  Little  Sister  of  the  Poor,  who  went  about  begging  for 
money  and  broken  food  and  cast-off  clothing  for  the  needy, 
one  day  asked  help  from  one  who  was  rich  and  by  position 
at  least  a  gentleman.  He  had  a  great  dislike  to  being 
asked  for  alms,  and  after  roughly  refusing  her,  at  last  even 
struck  the  Sister.  She  only  said  gently,  "  That  was  for 
myself;  now  won't  you  give  me  something  for  my  poor.''" 
And  the  man  was  so  ashamed  of  himself  that  he  gave  her 
a  liberal  subscription. 

CCCXV.  The  Painted  Eye.  Prov.  xv.  3.  ''The  eyes  of 
the  Lord  are  iii  every  place  beholding  the  evil  and  the  good." 

Some  years  ago  there  lived  in  an  old-fashioned  square  on 
the  "  south  side  "  of  Edinburgh,  a  widow  lady,  who,  in 
order  to  eke  out  her  slender  means  of  subsistence,  let  part 
of  her  house  to  lodgers.  Her  husband,  who  had  been  a 
portrait-painter  of  some  note,  had  but  lately  died,  and  left 
her  a  nicely-furnished  house,  though  but  little  means  to 
support  it. 

A  few  sketches  of  his  art  still  remained,  and  among 
others  which  she  highly  valued  was  a  beautifully-painted 
eye.  At  the  period  in  which  the  painter  lived,  it  was  not 
an  uncommon  thing   among   a  few  eccentric  persons  to 


1 84  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

have  one  of  their  eyes  copied,  and  presented  to  a  friend 
as  a  token  of  affection. 

The  painting  in  question  was  a  remark-able  production  ; 
the  eye  being  so  exquisitely  painted,  that  to  an  imaginative 
beholder  it  seemed  to  reflect  his  own  feelings,  and  to  re- 
spond to  them  in  sorrow  or  in  joy  ;  to  flash  with  anger, 
or  beam  with  tenderness. 

In  course  of  time  it  happened  that  a  young  man,  sadly 
given  to  evil  courses,  became  the  tenant  of  the  widow's 
parlour  where  hung  the  painted  eye.  A  year  or  two 
previously  he  had  left  his  distant  home  to  attend  the  uni- 
versity, where  he  was  now  studying  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession. The  parting  counsel  of  his  father  had  been,  to 
remember  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  that 
the  eye  of  God  was  upon  him.  He  promised,  and  at  first 
sincerely  intended  to  let  this  thought  regulate  his  conduct ; 
but  trusting  to  his  own  strength,  and  meeting  with  com- 
panions whose  love  of  pleasure  and  sinful  ways  too  well 
suited  the  natural  corruption  of  his  unrenewed  heart,  he 
plunged  recklessly  into  excess  of  riot,  and  almost  succeeded 
in  banishing  from  his  mind  the  recollection  that  there  was 
a  God  above,  to  whom  all  his  ways  were  known.  Judge, 
then,  of  his  discomfiture  and  annoyance  to  see  an  eye 
gazing  at  him  from  the  wall  of  his  new  chamber !  He 
tried,  but  in  vain,  to  hide  from  its  view  by  sitting  with  his 
back  towards  that  part  of  the  room.  But  the  conscious- 
ness that  it  was  there,  that  it  was  fixed  upon  him,  so 
disturbed  his  mind  that  he  could  not  rest.  Remorse  and 
terror  seized  upon  him,  and  with  a  desperate  effort  he 
rushed  to  the  picture  and  turned  its  face  to  the  wall ! 

The  good  widow,  little  surmising  that  a  picture  she  so 
highly  valued  could  be  in  anyway  distasteful  to  her  lodger, 
duly  turned  it  round  again  ;  and  much  she  wondered  when 
the  curious  accident  occurred  again  and  again  ;  for  the 
unfortunate  youth  tried  in  vain  to  bear  the  sight  of  the 
eye,  which  now  seemed  to  flash  with  anger,  or  again,  to 
gaze  upon  him  with  tender  reproach.  He  could  not  bear 
it.  But  he  hardened  his  heart,  and  finally  quitted  his 
lodging. 

How  is  it  with  thee  ^  Does  the  remembrance  that 
God's  eye  is  ever  upon  tl:ee  rejoice  thy  heart  and  influence 
thy  conduct  in  everything  ?     Art  thou  working  as  under 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  185 

the  eye  of  thy  Master,  who  sceth  in  secret,  and  will  reward 
thee  openly  ? 

CCCXVI.     A  Word  in  a  Railway  Carriage.     Prov. 
XV.  23.     "  A  word  spoken  m  due  season^  how  good  is  it  f 

A  RETIRED  naval  officer  was  once  travelling  by  rail  in 
Lancashire.  When  the  train  stopped  at  some  station,  a 
number  of  cattle-dealers  and  drovers  entered  the  carriage. 
They  were  all  excited,  and  it  was  soon  evident  tiiat  one 
of  the  company  was  being  made  a  laughing-stock  by  the 
rest,  and  at  last  he  was  irritated,  and  uttered  some  oaths. 
The  officer  put  his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  said,  "  Sir, 
you  must  not  swear."  The  man  looked  at  him  and  said, 
"And  pray  who  made  you,  sir,  a  conductor  over  this 
carriage?"  "  No  one,"  replied  the  officer  ;  "  but  I  am  your 
friend,  and  you  will  say  so  before  night."  "  Indeed  I 
won't,"  retorted  the  an<^ry  man  ;  "  there's  many  a  bad  one 
that  goes  to  meetings."  "Too  true,"  replied  the  ofncer, 
"  but  there's  never  a  swearer  that  goes  to  heaven."  This 
caused  deep  thought,  and  little  more  was  said  ;  but  when 
the  train  stopped,  the  man,  much  softened,  took  the  ofncer 
by  the  hand,  and  with  real  feeling  said,  "  I  don't  like  ye 
the  less  for  what  ye  said  to  me." 

CCCXVII.     The  Word  in  Season.    Prov.  xv.  23.    "^ 

word  spoken  ui  due  season,  how  good  is  it !" 

A  Pennsylvania  family,  which  need  not  be  named,  con- 
sisted of  father,  mother,  and  two  little  girls — the  elder,  Ida, 
in  her  ninth  year,  and  Katie,  a  little  over  six.  The  mother 
had  found  an  interest  in  Christ  four  or  five  months  before. 
Being  advised  by  her  pastor  to  institute  family  prayer  with 
her  two  children,  she  did  so  every  evening.  The  children 
usually  prayed  as  well  as  the  mother,  and  soon  satisfied 
their  friends  that  they  had  met  a  spiritual  change.  Little 
Katie  became  deeply  interested  in  her  father,  and  one 
evening,  when  about  to  engage  in  family  devotion,  entreated 
him  to  come  and  kneel  with  them  in  prayer.  He  genily 
replied,  "  No,  Katie  ;  I  will  lie  here  on  the  lounge,  and  you 
can  pray  for  me."  And  they  did  pray,  each  in  her  own 
simple  way,  "  Lord,  help  papa,  and  make  him  a  good  man." 
Shortly  after  that,  when  at  the  table,   little   Katie  said, 


iS6  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

"  Papa,  you  must  pray  before  you  eat  ;"  but  he  replied, 
"  Katie,  dear,  I  don't  know  how  to  pray."  Then  she  went 
to  him,  and  putting  his  hands  together  in  the  chikiish 
form,  told  him  to  pray,  "Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven." 
By  this  time  he  was  pretty  well  broken  down,  as  most  any 
father  would  have  been.  He  soon  became  deeply  in  earnest 
in  seeking  Christ,  and  one  day  while  he  was  praying,  Katie 
came,  and  putting  her  arms  around  his  neck  said,  "  Papa, 
can't  you  love  Jesus.?"  One  night  the  father,  not  being 
able  to  sleep,  went  downstairs  to  pray.  This  movement 
awakened  Katie,  and  she  followed  him,  and  putting  her 
arms  around  his  neck,  prayed  for  him  most  tenderly.  With 
the  aid  of  so  loving  and  faithful  a  helper,  he  soon  realized 
a  change.  He  found  his  Saviour,  and  openly  united  with 
the  Church.  Who  can  estimate  the  joy  of  that  household, 
and  what  an  illustration  it  furnishes  of  the  reward  which 
comes  from  saying  the  "  Word  in  season  "  ! 

CCCXVIII.    Greedy  of  Gain.     Prov.  xv.  27.    ''He  that 

is  greedy  of  gain  troubleth  his  07mi  house." 

A  YOUNG  man  once  picked  up  a  sovereign  lying  in  the 
road.  Ever  afterwards,  as  he  walked  along,  he  kept  his 
eye  steadfastly  on  the  ground,  in  hopes  of  finding  another. 
And,  in  the  course  of  his  long  life,  he  did  pick  up  at 
different  times  a  good  amount  of  gold  and  silver.  But  all 
these  days,  as  he  was  looking  for  them,  he  saw  not  that 
the  heaven  was  bright  above  him,  and  nature  was  beautiful 
around.  He  never  once  allowed  his  eye  to  look  up  from 
the  mud  and  filth  in  which  he  sought  the  treasure  ;  and, 
when  he  died  a  rich  old  man,  he  only  knew  this  fair  earth 
of  ours  as  a  dirty  road  to  pick  up  money  as  we  walk  along. 

CCCXIX.     Preaching    and    Praying.     Prov.  xv.   29. 
"  He  heareth  the  prayer  of  the  righteous.'" 

There  is  a  legend  to  this  effect :  A  certain  preacher, 
whose  sermons  converted  men  by  scores,  received  a  reve- 
lation from  heaven  that  not  one  of  the  conversions  was 
owing  to  his  talents  or  eloquence,  but  all  to  the  prayers 
of  an  illiterate  lay  brother,  who  sat  on  the  pulpit  steps, 
pleading  all  the  time  for  the  success  of  the  sermon.  It 
may,  in  the  all-revealing    day,  be  so  with  us.     We  may 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  187 


discover,  after  having  laboured  lonf^  and  wearily  in 
preaching,  that  all  the  honour  bclonc^s  to  another  builder, 
whose  prayers  were  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones, 
while  our  sermonisings  being  apart  from  prayer,  were  but 
hay  and  stubble. 

CCCXX.      A    Last    Farewell.       Prov.  xv.  33.      ''Before 
/lo/wiir  is  liuiiiilityP 

On  the  occasion  of  a  Welsh  minister's  death,  Mr.  Matthew 
Henry  preached  the  funeral  sermon,  and  thus  describes 
the  heavenly  frame  in  which  he  closed  his  life  on  earth  : 
"  His  solemn  farewell  to  his  children  and  pu[)ils,  the  good 
counsel  he  gave  them,  the  blessing  with  which  he  blessed 
them,  and  the  testimony  he  bore  with  his  dying  lips  to 
the  good  wa)'s  of  God  wherein  he  had  walked,  I  hope 
they  will  never  forget,  and  that  particularly  we  should  re- 
member and  practise  the  last  thing  he  recommended — 
humility.  '  It  is,'  said  he,  *  one  of  the  brightest  orna- 
ments of  a  young  minister  to  be  humble.'  The  words  of 
God,  which  he  had  made  his  songs  in  the  house  of  his 
pilgrimage,  were  his  delightful  entertainment  when  his 
tabernacle  was  in  taking  down." 

CCCXXI.  A  Bishop's  Veneration  for  White- 
field.  Prov.  xvi.  7.  "  JVhen  a  man's  rvays please  the  Lord, 
Me  viaketh  eve?i  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him.'' 

The  Countess  of  Huntingdon  was  converted  through  the 
means  of  her  sister,  Lady  Margaret  Hastings,  who  herself 
had  been  converted  through  the  preaching  of  the  lay 
Methodists. 

The  Countess  sent  a  messnge  to  the  Wesleys,  avowing 
her  great  change,  and  identifying  herself  with  their 
religious  movements.  Her  husband,  the  Earl  of  Hunt- 
ingdon, an  excellent  and  pious  man,  was  concerned  at  tliis, 
and  recommended  her  to  converse  with  Dr.  Benson,  Bishop 
of  Gloucester,  his  former  tutor.  The  Bishop  cautioned  her 
against  "Evangelical  Methodism;"  but  the  Countess 
pressed  him  so  hard  with  the  Articles  and  Homilies  of  his 
own  Church,  that  at  length  he  got  angry,  and  abruptly 
left  her,  expressing  his  regret  that  he  had  ever  laid  hands 
upon    George   Whitefield,    to   whom    he    attributed   this 


iS8  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

change.  "  My  Lord,"  she  replied,  "  mark  my  words : 
when  you  come  upon  your  dying  bed,  that  will  be  one  of 
the  few  ordinations  you  will  reflect  upon  with  compla- 
cency." The  prediction  was  singularly  verified  ;  for  when 
near  his  death,  the  Bisliop  sent  ten  guineas  to  Whitefield, 
as  an  expression  of  his  great  veneration  for  his  character 
and  work,  with  a  request  to  be  remembered  by  him  in  his 
prayers. 

CCCXXII.  An  Enemy  turned  into  a  Friend.  Prov. 

xvi.  7.     "  When  a  man's  7vays  please  the  Lord,  LLe  makcth 
even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him." 

During  Luther's  journey,  a  noble  knight  of  the  vicinity, 
learning  that  he  was  to  tarry  at  a  certain  place,  and 
yearning  for  the  honours  and  emoluments  that  would 
accrue  could  he  be  safely  caught  up  and  transported  to 
Rome,  resolved  to  hazard  the  attempt.  He  ordered  his 
armed  retinue  to  prepare  hastily,  for  there  was  no  time  to 
be  lost,  the  aspiring  noble  being  urged  and  commended 
to  the  task  by  his  confessor,  who  assured  him  that  he 
would  be  doing  a  good  work,  and  would  save  many  souls. 
He  set  out  at  early  dawn,  making  his  way  along  the 
picturesque  Berg-Strasse,  or  mountain  road,  that  skirts  the 
forest  of  the  Odenvvald,  between  Darmstadt  and  Heidel- 
berg. Arriving  at  the  gates  of  Miltenberg  in  the  evening, 
he  found  the  city  illuminated,  and  the  town  itself  full  of 
people,  who  had  come  thither  to  hear  and  see  Luther. 

More  indignant  than  ever  was  the  noble  knight ;  indig- 
nation grew  to  rage  when,  arriving  at  his  hotel,  the  host 
greeted  him,  "Well,  well,  Sir  Count,  has  Luther  brought 
you  here  too?  Pity  you  are  too  late.  You  should  have 
heard  him.  The  people  cannot  cease  praising  him."  In 
no  mood  tor  eulogy,  the  knight  sought  the  privacy  of  his 
room.  Awakened  in  the  morning  by  the  matin  bell  of 
the  chapel,  sleep  had  assuaged  his  ire,  and  his  thoughts 
were  at  home,  where  he  had  left  an  infant  daughter  at  the 
point  of  death.  As  he  drew  aside  his  curtain,  he  saw  the 
flicker  of  a  candle  in  the  window  opposite,  and  waiting  a 
moment  heard  a  deep,  manly  voice  utter  tliC  words,  "  In 
the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.     Amen."     He  heard  the  voice   further  continuing 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


in  a  stronf]f,  fervent  petition  for  the  whole  Christian  Church, 
and  tlie  victory  of  the  holy  gospel  over  sin  and  the  world. 

Bcin<T  a  devout  man,  his  interest  was  aroused,  and 
donninij  his  armour,  he  inquired  of  the  landlord  who  that 
earnest  man  was  that  he  heard  across  the  street.  "  That 
earnest  man,"  responded  the  landlord,  "  is  the  arch  heretic 
Luther  himself.  Has  your  grace  a  message  for  him  ?  " 
"Ay,"  said  the  knight,  "but  I  will  deliver  it  with  my  own 
lips,"  and  with  a  dubious  shake  of  the  head  he  crossed 
the  street,  entered  the  house,  and  in  a  moment  stood 
before  the  object  of  his  search.  Luther  instinctively  rose 
from  his  chair,  surprised  and  not  a  little  disconcerted  by 
the  sudden  appearance  of  a  stalwart  armed  knight,  perhaps 
having  an  unpleasant  suspicion  of  his  errand.  "What  is 
the  object  of  this  visit.''"  inquired  Luther.  Twice  and 
thrice  he  repeated  his  question  before  received  a  reply. 
At  length  the  knight,  having  recovered  somewhat  from 
the  spell  upon  him,  said,  "  Sir,  you  are  far  better  than  L 
God  forgive  me  for  intending  to  harm  you.  I  came  here 
to  make  you  a  prisoner  ;  you  have  made  a  prisoner  of  me 
instead.  It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  pray  as  you  pray 
to  be  an  enemy  of  the  holy  Church,  a  heretic."  "  God  be 
praised,"  said  Luther,  now  relieved  from  his  suspicions  ; 
'  it  is  His  word  and  Spirit  that  has  subdued  you,  not  mine, 
though  I  may  have  been  chosen  to  bring  His  word  to  honour 
in  Christendom.  Go  now  your  way,  therefore,  in  peace,  my 
lord.  He  that  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  per- 
form it  to  Christ's  coming.  If  it  be  God's  will,  you  shall 
yet  behold  miracles  ;  how  the  Lord  will  break  many  swords 
like  yours,  and  cut  the  spear  in  sunder,  as  He  has  to-day." 
Convinced  and  confirmed,  the  knight  lost  no  time  in 
making  his  way  homeward,  attended  by  his  retinue,  now 
still  more  curious  to  know  tlie  object  of  this  hasty  expedi- 
tion. Arriving  at  the  bedside  of  his  daughter,  he  found  her 
now  convalescent  and  out  of  danger,  and  falling  on  his 
knees  he  thanked  God  for  all  tjiat  had  happened.  A  few 
years  later,  when  Luther  confessed  his  faith  before  Charles 
v.,  among  the  assembled  nobles  who  stood  on  Luther's 
side  was  this  knight,  who  had  once  thought  to  overthrow 
and  destroy  him. 


Igo  OLD   TESTAMENT  AhECDOTES. 

CCCXXIII.  A  Kind  Tone  of  Voice.  Prov.  xvi.  24. 
"  Pleasant  words  are  as  an  honeycomb,  sivcet  to  the  soul,  and 
health  to  the  bones.''' 

The  law  of  kindness  may  be  violated  in  the  tones  of  the 
voice.  "  Not  so  much  what  my  mother  said  to  me,  as  the 
way  she  said  it,"  was  once  remarked  by  a  despairing  young 
man,  who  had  sadly  strayed  from  the  precepts  of  the 
parental  roof  "  Oh,"  said  he,  as  the  tears  coursed  down  his 
cheeks,  "the  way  my  mother  said  that  last  thing  to  me  !" 
Whitefield  says,  "  I  carefully  sought  out  those  acceptable 
tones  that  were  like  a  spell  upon  the  heart,  even  when  the 
words  were  unremembered."  So  wonderfully  modulated 
was  Whitefield's  voice,  that  Garrick  said  "he  could  make 
men  either  laugh  or  cry  by  pronouncing  the  word  Mesopo- 
tamia." 

"  Mother,"  said  a  little  girl,  "  I  like  our  preacher  when  he 
comes  to  see  us,  but  I  don't  like  to  hear  him  preach."  On 
being  asked  why,  she  said,  "  His  preaching  sounded  like 
scolding  all  the  time." 

CCCXXIV.  The  Ways  of  Death.  Prov.  xvi.  25. 
"  There  is  a  way  that  seemeth  right  unto  a  man,  but  the  end 
thereof  are  the  ways  of  death." 

On  the  Lake  of  Geneva  there  stands  a  gloomy  castle,  where 
prisoners  used  to  be  confined,  and  in  it  there  was  a  dark 
dungeon,  with  a  dreadful  staircase  called  the  " oitblieltes.'" 
Sometimes  the  keeper  went  to  a  poor  prisoner,  and  told 
him  that  now  he  was  to  obtain  his  life  and  liberty,  and 
requested  him  to  follow  him.  The  prisoner  went  along 
thankful  and  glad,  with  visions  of  home  and  happiness. 
He  reached  the  staircase,  and  was  told  to  go  down,  step  by 
step,  in  the  darkness,  that  he  might  reach  the  castle  gate, 
and  so  be  free.  Alas  !  it  was  a  broken  stair.  A  few  steps 
down  into  the  darkness,  and  the  next  step  he  took  he 
found  no  footing,  but  fell  down  fifty  or  sixty  feet,  to  be 
dashed  to  pieces  amongst  rocks,  and  then  to  have  his 
mangled  body  buried  in  the  lake. 

CCCXXV.  Christian  Forbearance.  Prov.  xvi.  32. 
"  He  that  is  sloiv  to  anger  is  better  than  the  migbty." 

In  Mungo  Park's  relation  of  his  travels  in  Africa,  he  gives 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  191 

a  striking  example  of  the  good  effects  of  Christian  forbear- 
ance, even  among  uncivilized  men.  He  says  after  having 
passed  through  the  greatest  distresses,  he  arrived  at  the 
village  of  Song,  where  the  people  refused  to  receive  him 
within  the  gate,  though  the  country  was  infested  with 
lions.  Here  Mungo  Park  with  much  difficulty  collected 
grass  for  his  horse,  and  lay  down  under  a  tree  near  the 
g.ite  ;  but  being  aroused  by  the  roar  of  a  lion,  he  climbed 
the  tree  for  safety.  The  inhabitants,  who  having  believed 
him  to  be  a  Moor,  would  not  admit  him,  notwithstanding 
the  danger  that  threatened  him,  till  midnight,  when, 
convinced  of  their  error,  they  opened  the  gate,  declaring 
that  no  Moor  ever  waited  long  at  the  gate  of  any  city 
without  cursing  all  the  inhabitants. 

CCCXXVI.       A    Good    Wife    is    from    the    Lord. 

Prov.  xix.  4.     '•'■A  p?-udent  wife  is  from  the  Lord." 

Solomon  says,  a  prudent  or  good  wife  is  from  the  Lord, 
and  not  a  few  have  experienced  the  truth  of  his  assertion. 
One  reason  why  so  many  fail  to  get  good  wives  is,  that 
they  do  not  ask  the  Lord  for  them.  They  follow  their 
own  impulses,  or  the  suggestions  of  interest,  and  do  not 
ask  counsel  of  God  and  commit  their  way  unto  Him.  In 
the  most  important  of  all  earthly  matters  they  take 
counsel  of  their  feelings,  and  lean  to  their  own  understand- 
ings. 

Thomas  Shepherd,  the  first  pastor  of  Cambridge,  and 
one  of  the  most  godly  and  useful  of  the  New  England 
fathers,  acted  in  accordance  with  Solomon's  doctrine. 
'•  Now,  about  this  time,  I  had  a  great  desire  to  change  my 
estate  by  marriage  ;  and  I  had  been  praying  three  years 
before,  that  the  Lord  would  carry  me  to  such  a  place  where 
I  might  have  a  meet  yoke-fellow." 

He  was  at  length  invited  to  take  up  his  abode  with  Sir 
Richard  Dai  ley,  where  his  labours  were  blessed  to  the 
conversion  of  most  of  the  members  of  the  family,  one  of 
whom  in  due  time  became  his  yoke-fellow.  "And  when 
He  had  fitted  a  wife  for  me,"  says  Mr.  S.,  *'  He  then  gave 
me  her,  who  was  a  most  sweet,  humble  woman,  full  of 
Christ,  and  a  very  discerning  Christian,  a  wife  who  was 
most  incomparably  loving  to  me,  and  every  way  amiable 


192  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

and  holy,  and  endued  with  a  very  sweet  spirit  of  prayer. 
And  thus  the  Lord  answered  my  desires." 

Men  may  smile  at  the  guileless  simplicity  with  which 
he  tells  his  story,  but  they  would  do  well  to  imitate  his 
example. 

CCCXXVII.  Slothful  Habits,  Prov.  xix.  15.  ''Sloth- 
fulness  casteth  into  a  deep  sleepy  and  an  idle  soul  shall  suffer 
hunger.'^ 

The  following  is  an  anecdote  of  a  venerated  servant  of 
God — Charles  Simeon  :  When  I  was  an  undergraduate,  I 
remember  hearing  a  friend  of  his  relate  this  anecdote  of 
him  :  "  We  were  sitting,"  he  said,  "in  his  room  at  college, 
three  or  four  of  us  round  his  table.  Dinner  finished,  we 
entered  into  conversation.  Charles  Simeon  led  with  that 
wonderful  power  of  conversation  which  so  distinguished  him. 
Turning  round  to  one  of  us,  he  said,  '  Will  you  have  a  nut 
to  crack  ? '  Thinking,  for  the  moment,  he  referred  to  the 
fruit  lying  on  the  table,  some  indefinite  reply  was  made, 
when  he  remarked  with  a  smile,  '  Oh,  you  do  not  under- 
stand ;  I  want  you  to  crack  a  spiritual  nut.  The  nut  is  a 
very  small  one  ;  it  is  a  single  word  ;  you  will  find  it  in  the 
third  chapter  of  Philippians.  I  will  read  the  passage  to  you, 
and  will  you  point  out  the  emphatic  word  in  the  verse, 
'  Let  us  therefore,  as  many  as  be  perfect,  be  thus  minded  : 
and  if  in  anything  ye  be  otherwise  minded,  God  shall  re- 
veal even  this  unto  you.'  They  all  agreed  that  '  thus'  was 
the  nut,  the  emphatic  word,  when  he  replied,  '  Well,  which 
of  you  can  crack  it  t '  One  said  one  thing,  and  another 
said  another.  At  last  he  replied,  *  It  seems  to  me  to  have 
a  threefold  kernel ;  let  me  try  and  crack  the  nut,  and  give 
you  the  kernel.  As  I  read  the  whole  chapter,  I  find 
three  prominent  thoughts  running  through  it,  and  they 
are  all  summed  up  in  that  little  word  '  tJins.'  Here  are  the 
three — '  No  lofty  thoughts,  no  worldly  ambition,  no  slothful 
habits.  That  is  the  kernel,'  he  says.  Then  he  struck  out 
into  a  strain  of  conversation  upon  the  subject,  becoming 
more  and  more  energetic  as  he  enlarged  upon  it,  until  he 
came  at  last  to  the  words,  '  no  slothful  habits,'  when  he 
sprang  to  his  feet  with  the  energy  that  characterised  the 
good  old  man,  and  ran  round  the  room,  as  he  said,  '  Why, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  193 

the  Apostle  talks  about  running-,  not  creeping,  or  trifling. 
Some  of  us  go  creeping  to  iieaven,  and  the  wonder  is  that 
we  ever  get  there.  St.  Paul  speaks  of  himself  as  pressing 
towards  the  mark.  When  a  man  is  running  a  race  he 
strains  his  every  nerve  to  win  it.  Some  of  us  fancy  we 
are  to  be  carried  into  the  kingdom  of  glory,  but  if  we 
would  win  the  crown,  we  must  throw  all  our  energies  into 
the  race.  It  is  not  enough  to  accept  this  doctrine,  and  the 
theory,  but  let  us  remember  that  God  has  given  us  natural 
powers,  in  order  that  we  may  employ  them  ;  and  only  as  we 
employ  them,  can  we  expect  to  win  the  prize.'" 

CCCXXVIII.      A    Loan   to  the  Lord.     Prov.  xix.  17. 

^'■Ile  that  hath  pity  upon  the  poor  kndeth  Jitito  the  Lord,  arid 
that  which  he  hath  given  will  He  pay  him  again." 

A  POOR  man  with  an  empty  purse  came  one  day  to  Michael 
Feneberg,  the  godly  pastor  of  Seeg,  in  Bavaria,  and  begged 
three  crowns,  that  he  might  finish  his  journey.  It  was  all 
the  money  Feneberg  had,  but  as  he  besought  him  so 
earnestly  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  he 
gave  it.  Immediately  after  he  found  himself  in  great 
outward  need,  and  seeing  no  way  of  relief,  he  prayed, 
sa}'ing :  "  Lord,  I  lent  Thee  three  crowns  ;  Thou  hast  not 
yet  returned  them,  and  Thou  knowest  how  I  need  them. 
Lord,  I  pray  Thee,  give  them  back."  The  same  day  a 
messenger  brought  a  money-letter,  which  Gossner,  his  as- 
sistant, reached  over  to  Feneberg,  saying :  "  Here,  father, 
is  what  you  expended."  The  letter  contained  two  hundred 
thalers,  or  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  which  the 
poor  traveller  had  begged  from  a  rich  man  for  the  Vicar  ; 
and  the  childlike  old  man,  in  joyful  amazement,  cried  out  : 
"  Ah,  dear  Lord,  one  dare  ask  nothing  of  Thee,  for  straight- 
way Thou  makest  one  feel  so  much  ashamed." 

CCCXXIX.  Can  you  Trust  the  Security?  Prov. 
xix.  17.  "He  that  hath  pity  on  the  poor  Icndeth  Ufito  the 
Lord ;  and  that  which  he  hath  given  will  He  pay  him  again." 

It  is  said  that  Dean  Swift  was  once  called  to  preach  on 
behalf  of  a  public  charity,  and  having  taken  the  above  as 
his  text,  he  closed  the  book,  and  said,  "  Now,  if  you  can 

O 


194  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

trust  the  security,  doivn  ivitJi  your  dust.    The  collection  will 
be  made." 


CCCXXX.  Children's  Help.  Prov.  xx.  ii.  ''Even  a 
child  is  known  by  Ids  doings,  whether  his  work  be  pure,  and 
whetlicr  it  be  right.''' 

There  was  a  terrible  storm  one  cold  winter's  night,  a  few 
years  ago,  and  a  ship  was  wrecked  just  opposite  a  fishing 
village  in  the  north.  The  crew  got  into  a  boat  and  rowed 
for  the  shore.  They  were  not  a  dozen  yards  from  the 
beach,  when  their  boat  grounded  on  a  sand-bar,  and  stuck 
fast.  The  fishermen  ran  down  to  help  them,  and  the 
sailors  flung  them  a  rope,  and  told  them  to  pull  with  all 
their  might.  The  fishermen  did  so  ;  but,  though  they 
were  very  fine  fellows,  they  could  not  manage  it.  Then 
their  wives  said,  "Let  us  take  hold,  and  pull  too."  But 
though  the  women  strained  every  nerve,  the  boat  did  not 
move  !  At  last  the  children  asked  to  join  in  ;  and  those 
who  could,  got  hold  of  the  rope,  and  the  rest  got  hold  of 
their  fathers'  smocks  and  their  mothers'  gowns,  and  then 
came  the  "  long  pull  !  and  the  strong  pull  !  and  the  pull  ALL 
TOGETIJER  !"  and  the  thing  was  done!  the  boat  shot  over 
the  sand-bar,  and  the  poor  shipwrecked  sailors  were 
saved  ! 

The  childrefi's  tveight  made  all  the  difference  in  the  pull  I 

CCCXXXI.  George  Fox  and  his  False  Accusers. 

Prov.  xx.  22.  "  Say  not  thou,  I  will  recovipe7ise  evil;  but  ivait 
on  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  save  thee." 

After  being  imprisoned  for  twenty  weeks,  the  faithful 
servant  of  Christ,  George  Fox,  was  released  in  1660.  He 
thus  speaks  of  his  false  accuser  in  his  journal:  "Thus  I 
was  set  at  liberty  by  the  king's  command,  the  Lord's 
power  having  wonderfully  wrought  for  the  clearing  of  my 
innocency,  and  Porter,  who  committed  me,  not  daring  to 
appear  to  make  good  the  charge  he  had  falsely  suggested 
against  me.  Terror  took  hold  of  Justice  Porter,  for  he  was 
afraid  I  would  take  the  advantage  of  the  law  against  him 
for  my  wrong  imprisonment,  and  thereby  undo  him,  his 
wife  and  children.     And,  indeed,  I  was  put  on  to  make  him 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  195 

and  the  rest  examples  ;  but  I  said  I  should  leave  them  to 
the  Lord  :  if  the  Lord  did  forgive  them,  I  should  not 
trouble  myself  with  them." 

CCCXXXII.  Sabbath  School  Instruction.  Prov. 
xxii.  6.  "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go  :  and 
when  he  is  old,  he  ivill  not  depart  from  it." 

"  Sabbatii-SCIIOOL  instruction,  although  good  as  far  as  it 
gc  es,  does  not  supply  adequate  moral  education  for  the 
juvenile  hordes  which  infest  the  streets  of  our  large  cities. 
The  interval  between  Sabbath  and  Sabbath  is  too  wide. 
It  is  like  spreading  a  net  with  meshes  seven  inches  wide 
instead  of  one,  before  a  shoal  of  herrings.  By  the  great 
gap  of  the  week  the  little  Arabs  easily  slip  through,  in 
spite  of  the  stout  string  which  you  extend  across  their 
path  on  the  Sabbath  evening.  Ply  the  work  by  all  means, 
and  ply  it  hopefully.  Labour  for  the  Lord  in  that  depart- 
ment will  not  be  lost.  Saving  truth  is  thereby  deposited 
in  many  minds,  which  the  Spirit  of  God  will  make  fruitful 
in  a  future  day.  Ply  the  work  of  Sabbath  schools,  but  let 
not  the  existence  and  abundance  of  these  efforts  deceive 
us  into  the  belief  that  the  work  is  adequately  done.  The 
Sabbath  school  cannot  train  up  a  child.  The  six  days' 
training  at  home,  if  it  be  evil,  will,  in  the  battle  of  life, 
carry  it  over  the  one  day's  teaching  in  the  school,  however 
good  it  may  be," 

CCCXXXIII.  Knowing  the  Scriptures  from  a 
Child.  Pro  v.  xxii.  6.  '■^  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he 
should  go." 

John  Ruskin,  in  his  "  Praeterita,"  describes  his  daily 
Bible  lessons  which  his  mother  taught  him.  He  says  : 
"  I  have  next  with  deep  gratitude  to  chronicle  what  I  owed 
to  my  mother  for  the  resolutely  consistent  lessons  which 
so  exercised  me  in  the  Scriptures  as  to  make  every  word 
of  them  familiar  to  my  ear  in  habitual  music  ;  yet  in  that 
familiarity  reverenced,  as  transcending  all  thought,  and 
ordaining  all  conduct.  This  she  effected,  not  by  her  own 
sayings  or  personal  authorit}-,  but  simply  by  compelling 
me  to  read  the  book  thoroughly  for  myself.     As  soon  as 


196  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

I  was  able  to  read  with  fluency,  she  began  a  course  of 
Bible  work  with  me,  which  never  ceased  till  I  went  to 
Oxford.  She  read  alternate  verses  with  me,  watching, 
it  first,  every  intonation  of  my  voice,  and  correcting  the 
false  ones,  till  she  made  me  understand  the  verse,  if  within 
my  reach,  rightly  and  energetically.  It  might  be  beyond 
me  altogether  ;  that  she  did  not  care  about ;  but  she  made 
sure  that,  as  soon  as  I  got  hold  of  it  at  all,  I  should  get 
hold  of  it  by  the  right  end.  If  a  name  was  hard,  the  better 
the  exercise  in  pronunciation  ;  if  a  chapter  was  tiresome, 
the  better  lesson  in  patience  ;  if  loathsome,  the  better  lesson 
in  faith  that  there  was  some  use  in  its  being  so  outspoken.. 
After  our  chapters  (from  two  to  three  a  day,  according  to 
their  length,  the  first  thing  after  breakfast,  and  no  interrup- 
tion from  servants  allowed — none  from  visitors,  who  either 
joined  in  the  reading,  or  had  to  stay  upstairs — and  none 
from  any  visitings  or  excursions,  except  real  travelling), 
I  had  to  learn  a  few  verses  by  heart,  or  repeat,  to  make  sure 
I  had  not  lost,  something  of  what  was  already  known  ;  and 
with  the  chapters  thus  gradually  possessed  from  the  first 
word  to  the  last,  I  had  to  learn  the  whole  body  of  the 
fine  old  Scottish  paraphrases,  which  are  good,  melodious, 
and  forceful  verse,  and  to  which,  together  with  the  Bible 
itself,  I  owe  the  first  cultivation  of  my  ear  in  sound." 


CCCXXXIV.  The  Robber's  Bible.  Prov.  xxii.  6. 
"  Tram  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go :  and  71' hen  he  is 
old,  he  7vill  7iot  depart  from  it." 

There  was  a  strange  auction  in  one  of  the  deep,  inaccessible 
dells  of  the  Black  Forest,  about  a  century  ago.  It  was  in 
the  dead  of  night.  The  place  was  lighted  by  torches,  which 
cast  a  ghastly  glare  through  the  darkness  of  the  abyss. 
Savage-looking  men,  armed  to  the  teeth,  were  sitting  in 
a  circle,  while  one  stood  in  the  midst,  holding  up  articles 
for  sale.  It  was  a  gang  of  brigands,  who  that  evening  had 
robbed  a  stage-coach.  According  to  their  custom,  they 
were  engaged  in  selling  the  stolen  articles  among  them- 
selves. After  a  good  many  pieces  of  dress  and  travelling- 
bags  had  been  disposed  of,  and  while  the  glass  and  the 
bottle  were  going  from  hand  to  hand,  and  each  member 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  197 

of  the  company  vied  with  his  neii;hl)our  in  making  un- 
seemly jokes  and  setting  the  assembly  in  a  roar,  a  New 
Testament  was  held  up  last  of  all.  The  man  who  acted  as 
auctioneer  introduced  this  "  article"  with  some  blasphemous 
remarks,  which  made  the  cavern  resound  with  laughter. 
One  of  the  company  suggested  jokingly  that  he  should 
read  a  chapter  for  their  edification.  This  was  unanimously 
ap{)lauded,  and  the  auctioneer,  turning  up  a  page  at  ran- 
dom, began  reading  in  a  voice  of  mock-devotion.  While 
the  company  were  greatly  amused  at  this  sacrilegious  scoff- 
ing, it  was  not  observed  that  one  of  them,  a  middle-aged 
man,  who  was  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  gang,  and 
used  to  be  foremost  both  in  their  crimes  and  in  their  de- 
bauchery, became  silent,  and  clasping  his  hands  on  his 
knees,  was  absorbed  in  deep  thought.  The  passage  which 
the  auctioneer  read  was  the  same  which  that  man's  father 
had  read  thirty  years  ago  at  family  worship  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  when  he,  to  escape  the  hands  of  the  police, 
fled  from  the  parental  dwelling,  never  to  return  again.  At 
the  sound  of  the  words,  which  he  remembered  so  well,  the 
happy  family  circle  of  which  he  had  been  a  member,  rose 
to  his  fancy.  In  his  imagination  he  saw  them  all  seated 
round  the  breakfast-table,  which  was  crowned  with  the 
blessings  of  a  new  day.  He  saw  his  venerable  old  father 
sitting  with  the  open  Bible  reading  the  chapter  that  was  to 
prepare  them  for  prayer.  He  saw  his  kind,  tender-hearted 
mother  sitting  by  his  father's  side,  attentively  listening  to 
the  Word  of  God.  He  saw  himself,  with  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  joining  in  the  devotional  exercise,  which  entreated 
for  them  the  guidance,  protection,  and  blessing  of  God 
during  the  day.  He  saw  it  all  as  clearly  before  his  mind 
as  if  it  had  happened  that  morning.  Since  leaving  home, 
he  had  never  opened  a  Bible,  never  offered  up  a  prayer, 
never  heard  a  single  word  that  reminded  him  of  God  and 
eternity.  But  now,  at  this  moment,  it  was  as  if  his  soul 
awoke  out  of  a  long  sleep  of  thirty  years — as  if  the  snow 
of  a  long,  long  winter  melted  away  on  a  sudden  at  the 
sound  of  that  well-known  Bible  word  ;  and  all  the  words 
which  his  good  father  had  spoken  to  him  from  his  child- 
hood, and  all  the  lessons,  admonitions,  and  prayers  of  his 
pious  mother — which  then  were  scornfully  given  to  the 
winds — now   came   flying    back    to    his    memory,  as   the 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


winter  crop  bursts  forth  through  the  snow  when  the  vernal 
sun  unshackles  the  fields,  and  causes  the  hidden  life  to  rise 
from  its  long  dreary  grave.  Perfectly  absorbed  in  those 
hallowed  recollections,  he  forgot  all  that  was  round  him, 
heard  nothing  of  all  the  scoffing,  laughing,  and  blaspheming 
that  was  passing  in  his  presence,  until,  on  a  sudden,  he  was 
awaked  out  of  his  reverie  by  a  rude  tap  on  the  shoulder, 
which  was  accompanied  by  the  question,  "Now,  old  dreamer, 
what  will  you  give  for  that  book  ?  You  need  it  more  than 
any  one  of  us,  for  you  are  undoubtedly  the  biggest  sinner 
under  the  firmament."  "  So  I  am,"  he  answered,  struck  to 
the  very  bottom  of  his  heart  by  the  truth  which  he  recog- 
nised in  that  rough  joke.  "  Give  me  the  book.  I  will 
pay  its  full  price."  The  next  day  the  brigands  dispersed 
through  the  neighbourhood  to  turn  their  bargains  into 
money.  The  man  who  bought  the  bible  went  also  on  his 
errand  ;  but  he  directed  his  steps  to  no  receiving-house.  He 
repaired  to  a  lonely  place,  where  he  spent  the  whole  day 
and  night  in  the  agonies  of  unspeakable  remorse,  and  but 
for  the  consoling  words  which  his  Bible  held  out  to  him,  he 
would  certainly  have  made  away  with  himself  But  God 
had  mercy  upon  that  repenting  sinner,  and  sent  a  message 
of  peace  and  reconciliation  to  his  heart.  The  next  day,  on 
entering  a  village  where  he  resolved  to  speak  to  a  minister, 
he  heard  that  the  gang  was  overtaken  the  night  before  by 
a  detachment  of  soldiers,  and  taken  to  prison.  His  resolu- 
tion was  confirmed  now  all  the  more.  He  told  the  minister 
the  whole  of  his  life's  story,  and  requested  him  to  direct 
him  to  the  police  office,  where  he  gave  himself  up  to  the 
hands  of  justice.  This  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  his  repent- 
ance saved  his  life.  His  comrades  were  all  put  to  death, 
but  he  obtained  a  reprieve  from  the  Grand  Duke,  to  whom 
his  story  was  reported.  After  an  imprisonment  of  some 
years,  he  was  set  free  on  account  of  his  exemplary  conduct. 
A  Christian  nobleman  took  him  into  his  service,  and  he 
proved  a  blessing  to  his  master's  household,  till  he  died 
in  peace,  praising  Jesus  Christ  who  came  into  the  world 
to  save  sinners,  of  whom  he  confessed  himself  to  be  the 
chief. 


OLl^    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  19c; 

CCCXXXV.    Rebuking  a  King.     Prov.  xxii.  11.     ''For 

the  grace  of  his  lips  the  king  sliall  be  his  ft  ie/id." 

Tin:  timidity  which  hesitates  to  rebulcc  profanity  was  once 
shamed  by  a  king  who  liad  been  himself  rebuked  for  pro- 
fanity. Riding  along  the  highway  in  disguise,  and  seeing 
a  soldier  at  an  inn,  he  stopped  and  asked  him  to  drink  ale 
with  him.  On  an  oath  which  the  king  uttered  while  they 
were  drinking,  the  soldier  remarked,  "  I  am  sorry  to  hear 
young  gentlemen  swear." 

His  majesty  took  no  notice  of  it,  but  swore  again. 

The  soldier  immediately  said,  "I'll  pay  part  of  the  ale, 
if  you  please,  and  go  ;  for  I  so  hate  swearing  that,  if  you 
were  the  king  himself,  I  should  tell  you  of  it." 

"  Should  you  indeed  .-'  "  asked  the  king. 

"  I  should,"  was  the  emphatic  reply  of  his  subject. 

Not  long  after,  the  king  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  be 
"as  good  as  his  word."  Having  invited  some  lords  to 
dine  with  him,  he  sent  for  the  soldier,  and  bade  him  to 
stand  near  him,  in  order  to  serve  him  if  he  was  needed. 
Presently  the  king,  not  now  in  disguise,  uttered  an  oath  ; 
And  deferentially  the  soldier  immediately  said,  "  Should 
not  my  lord  and  king  fear  an  oath  ^ " 

Looking  at  the  heroic  soldier,  and  then  at  his  company 
of  obsequious  noblemen,  the  king  severely  remarked  : 
"  There,  my  lords,  is  an  honest  man.  He  can  respectfully 
remind  me  of  the  great  sin  of  swearing  ;  but  you  can  sit 
here  and  let  me  stain  my  soul  by  swearing,  and  not  so 
much  as  tell  me  of  it !  " 


CCCXXXVI.     A    Drunkard's   Child.     Prov.  xxiii.  21. 

"  The  drunkard  and  the  glutton  shall  come  to  poverty!'^ 

A  Sunday-school  teacher  handed  to  her  scholars  little 
slips  of  paper  on  which  was  printed  the  question,  "  What 
have  I  to  be  thankful  for  } "  Among  the  replies  that  were 
given  on  the  following  Sunday  was  the  following  pathetic 
sentence,  written  by  a  little  girl  who  had  learned  by  bitter 
processes  the  painful  truths  it  told :  "  I  am  thankful  there 
are  no  public-houses  in  heaven." 


OLD    TESTA M EXT  AAECDOTES. 


CCCXXXVII.  One  who  Delighted  to  Honour  his 
Parents.  Prov.  xxiii.  24,  25.  "■  lie  that  begeftelh  a  wise 
child  shall  have  Joy  of  him.  Thy  father  and  thy  mother  shall 
be  glad,  and  she  that  bare  thee  shall  rejoice." 

A  PLEASING  incident  is  told  of  the  late  Henry  Favvcett, 
Postmaster-General.  He  was  very  much  attached  to  his 
old  home,  and  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  writing  a  weekly 
letter  to  his  parents.  He  happened  one  day  to  ask  his 
sister  what  gave  them  most  pleasure?  She  replied,  "Your 
letters."  From  that  time,  though  overwhelmed  with  official 
and  parliamentary  work,  he  wrote  twice,  instead  of  once 
a  week.  These  letters  are  homely  and  affectionate,  and 
everywhere  imply  that  constant  desire  to  give  pleasure, 
which  is  more  significant  than  the  strongest  professions  of 
love. 

CCCXXXVIII.  Calvin's  Motto.     Prov. xxiii.  26.     ''My 
son,  give  me  thy  heart.^' 

Calvin's  seal  had  engraven  on  it  a  hand  holding  a  burn- 
ing heart,  with  the  motto,  "  I  give  Thee  all ;  I  keep  back 
nothing  for  myself !  " 

CCCXXXIX.  For  Teachers  and  Parents.  Prov. 
xxiv,  10.  '^  If  thou  faint  in  the  day  of  adversity,  iky  strength 
is  small." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  speaking  of  Sunday-school  teachers 
who  "  get  tired  "  and  leave  their  classes,  says  :  "  Everybody 
gets  tired  except  the  devil  ;  he  is  a  bishop  that  is  never 
out  of  his  diocese."  There  is  as  much  truth  as  blunt  force 
in  the  remark.  It  is  worth  keeping  in  mind  on  entering 
the  Christian  campaign. 

CCCXL.  The  Helping  Hand.  Prov.  xxiv.  11.  "7/ 
thou  forbear  to  deliver  them  that  are  drawn  unto  death,  and 
those  that  are  ready  to  be  slain." 

These  words  which  follow  speak  more  loudly  to  us  because 
they  come  from  Bishop  Simpson,  one  who  was  himself  an 
illustration  of  what  he  commends  : 

"  I  shall  never  forget  the  feelings  I  had  once  when  climb- 


OLD   TESTAM/uXT  ANECDOTES.  201 

ing  one  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt.  When  half-way  up,  my 
strenjjth  failin*::,  I  feared  I  should  never  be  able  to  reach 
the  summit  or  get  back  again.  I  well  remember  the  help 
given,  by  Arab  hands,  drawing  me  on  farther;  and  the 
step  I  could  not  quite  make  m}'self,  because  too  great  for 
my  wearied  frame,  the  little  help  given  me — sometimes 
more  and  sometimes  less — enabled  me  to  go  up,  step  by- 
step,  step  by  step,  until  at  last  I  reached  the  top,  and 
breathed  the  pure  air,  and  had  a  grand  outlook  from  that 
lofty  hei'^ht. 

"  And  so,  in  life's  journey,  we  are  climbing.  We  are  feeble. 
Every  one  of  us,  now  and  then,  needs  a  little  help  ;  and,  if 
we  have  risen  a  step  higher  than  some  other,  let  us  reach 
down  for  our  brother's  hand,  and  help  him  to  stand  beside 
us.  And  thus,  joined  hand  in  hand,  we  shall  go  on  con- 
quering, step  by  step,  until  the  glorious  eminence  shall  be 
gained.  Oh,  how  many  need  help  in  this  world — poor 
afflicted  ones ;  poor  sorrowing  ones ;  poor  tempted  ones, 
who  have  been  overcome,  who  have  been  struggling,  not 
quite  able  to  get  up  the  step ;  trying,  falling  ;  trying, 
falling;  trying,  desponding;  hoping,  almost  despairing! 
Oh,  give  such  a  one  help,  a  little  kindly  aid,  and  the  step 
may  be  taken,  and  another  step  may  then  be  taken  ;  and, 
instead  of  dying  in  wretchedness  at  the  base,  he  may,  by  a 
brother's  hand,  be  raised  to  safety,  and  finally  to  glory. 

CCCXLI.     An    Evangelist.     Prov.  xxv.  ii.     "A   word 
fitly  spoken  is  like  apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver.  ^^ 

Dr.  Talmage  says,  "  How  few  Christian  people  there  are 
who  understand  how  to  fasten  the  truths  of  God  and  religion 
to  the  souls  of  men,  Truman  Osborne,  one  of  the  evan- 
gelists who  went  through  this  country  some  years  ago,  had 
a  wonderful  art  in  the  right  direction.  He  came  to  my 
father's  house  one  day,  and  while  we  were  all  seated  in 
the  room,  he  said  :  '  Mr,  Talmage,  are  all  your  children 
Christians  } '  Father  said  :  '  Yes,  all  but  De  Witt'  Then 
Truman  Osborne  looked  down  into  the  fire-place,  and 
began  to  tell  a  story  of  a  storm  that  came  on  the  moun- 
tains, and  all  the  sheep  were  in  the  fold :  but  there  was 
one  lamb  outside  that  perished  in  the  storm.  Had  he 
looked  me  in  the  eye,  I  shoiild  have  been  angered  when 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


he  told  that  story  ;  but  he  looked  into  the  fire-place,  and 
it  was  so  pathetically  and  beautifully  done  that  I  never 
found  any  peace  until  I  was  sure  I  was  inside  the  fold, 
where  the  other  sheep  are." 

CCCXLII.     Balaam's    Ass.     Prov.  xxvi.  5.      "■'■Ans^ver  a 
fool  according  to  /lis  fol/y." 

"  Do  you  really  believe  that  an  ass  ever  spoke  to  Balaam  ?  " 
queried  a  man  who  prided  himself  on  his  intellect.  Coleridge, 
to  whom  the  question  was  put,  reflected  :  "  My  friend,  I 
have  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  story  is  true.  I  have 
been  spoken  to  in  the  same  way  myself"  The  man  of  the 
inquiring  mind  retired  for  meditation. 

He  was  answered  according  to  his  folly,  which  is  often 
as  good  a  form  of  reply  as  such  quibblers  deserve.  Much 
of  the  beauty  of  the  answer  lay  in  the  courtesy  which  said 
so  little  but  meant  so  much.  A  hard  word  becomes  all 
the  harder  by  being  softly  spoken.  To  have  called  the 
man  an  ass  would  have  shown  great  weakness,  and  betrayed 
warm  temper,  but  Coleridge  worded  his  remark  well,  and 
left  the  hearer  to  find  out  the  sting  for  himself  Here  is 
a  lesson  of  practical  common-sense  which  those  who  deal 
with  sceptics  would  do  well  to  learn. 

CCCXLIII.     Seeking   the  Society  of  Christians. 

Prov.  xxvii.  9.     '''■  Ointment  a7id  perfume  rejoice  the  heart ;  so 
doth  the  sweetness  of  a  maris  frietid  by  hearty  counsel." 

"  Ane  stick  '11  never  burn !  Put  more  wood  on  the  fire, 
laddie;  ane  stick '11  never  burn!"  my  old  Scotch  grand- 
father used  to  say  to  his  boys.  Sometimes,  when  the  fire 
in  the  heart  burns  low,  and  love  to  the  Saviour  grows  faint, 
it  would  glow  warm  and  bright  again  if  it  could  only  touch 
another  stick.  We  are  weak  and  imperfect.  A  hundred 
things — health,  digestion,  anxieties,  little  frets  and  cares — 
hinder  our  soul's  progress.  The  spirit  cannot  soar,  for  the 
flesh  constantly  keeps  it  down.  There  is  a  true  life  begun 
in  us,  but  it  flickers  like  a  candle  in  the  wind. 

What  we  need,  next  to  earnest  prayer  to  God  and 
communion  with  Christ,  is  communion  with  each  other. 
"Where  two  or  three   are   gathered   together,"  the  heart 


OLD    TESl'AMI.X r  AMiCDOTIiS.  203 

burns ;  love  kindles  to  a  fervent  heat.  Friends,  let  us 
frequent  the  society  of  those  who  are  fellow-pilgrims  with 
us  to  Canaan's  happy  land.  *'  Ane  stick  '11  never  burn  "  as 
a  great,  generous  pile  will  be  sure  to. 

CCCXLIV.     Trust  Not  in  Vain.     Prov.  xxviii.  25.  ''He 
that  putleth  his  trust  i/i  the  Lord  shall  be  made  fat.''' 

DURINC}  the  commercial  panic  of  1837,  there  lived  in  the 

city  of  VV ton  an  earnest  Ciiristian  worker.     He  had  a 

large  family,  but  was  not  rich  in  this  world's  goods.  The 
denomination  of  which  he  was  a  member  had  for  several 
years  been  struggling  to  complete  their  house  of  worship. 
He  being  an  example  unto  the  brethren,  had  made  large 
contributions,  and  ere  he  was  aware  had  given  several 
thousand  dollars  to  finish  the  church.  Clouds  of  business 
depression  were  now  gathering  thick,  and  the  storm  of  ruin 
was  ready  to  break  forth.  About  this  time  he  bought  and 
shipped  a  valuable  cargo  to  a  wealthy  gentleman  in  New 
York.  Several  weeks  after  he  was  surprised  by  the  cashier 
of  the  bank  hastily  entering  his  place  of  business,  saying 
in  an  excited  manner  :  "  Sir !  that  New  York  man  has 
failed,  and  the  draft  for  the  cargo  has  been  returned,  pro- 
tested. Things  are  growing  darker  all  the  time;  no  one  can 
tell  what  the  end  may  be."  The  cashier  was  astonished  to 
see  how  self-possessed  he  remained  He  forgot  that  it  had 
been  written  of  the  upright  man,  "  He  shall  not  be  afraid 
of  evil  tidings:  his  heart  is  fixed,  trusting  in  the  Lord" 
But  it  was  a  great  blow  to  him.  What  could  be  done  .-' 
The  draft  was  for  thousands  of  dollars.  The  bank  could 
grant  no  favours,  and  was  bound  to  have  the  money. 
Collections  were  out  of  the  question.  Real  estate  would 
not  bring  one-fourth  of  its  value.  Ruin  stared  him  in  the 
face.  There  was  no  escape.  It  took  a  firm  eye  and  a 
brave  heart  to  stand  in  his  home  among  his  little  ones  and 
see  the  grim  spectres  of  poverty  and  want  overshadowing 
them. 

1  hirty  days  of  grace  were  granted,  but  they  were  days 
of  torture  and  almost  despair.  His  refuge  was  in  prayer. 
The  last  day  came.  The  family  were  assembled  as  usual 
at  the  Throne  of  Grace.  He  poured  out  his  soul  unto  God. 
As  Hezekiah  of  old  spread  out  the  letter  of  the  wicked 


204  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Kin^T  of  Bab\'lon  before  the  Lord,  and  prayed  over  it,  so 
did  he  state  his  case  to  the  Almighty.  He  arose  comforted. 
Resignation  had  come.  Yes,  I  can  be  poor.  Yes,  I  can 
walk  where  God  leads  me.  Yes,  I  can  go  to  the  bank 
to-day  and  make  myself  a  pauper,  sign  away  house,  home, 
and  all.  God  is  still  mine,  my  family  are  still  mine—  the 
promises  in  God's  word  are  not  changed  ;  heaven  shall  be 
mine.     I  trust  God  for  the  future. 

He  dressed  carefully,  so  as  to  go  through  his  sad  duties 
decently,  and  sat  down  to  wait  until  the  bank  opened. 
While  sitting  there,  three  letters  were  brought  in.  He 
opened  the  first.  Could  his  eyes  deceive  him  ?  It  con- 
tained a  draft  for  $i,ooo,  sent  by  a  brother  in  New 
England.  The  next  letter  was  from  a  New  York  bank, 
authorizing  him  to  draw  on  it  for  any  amount  sufficient  to 
tide  him  over  his  difficulties.  The  third  letter  was  from 
the  man  to  whom  the  cargo  had  been  sent,  telling  him  to 
draw  again  for  the  full  amount,  and  the  draft  would  be 
honoured.  The  tears  of  thanksgiving  streamed  down  his 
cheeks.  "  Now  do  I  know  that  there  is  a  God  in  Israel :  I 
was  brought  low,  and  He  helped  me." 

When  he  reached  the  bank,  the  directors  were  in  session 
discussing  his  case.  They  arose  as  he  entered.  The 
president,  taking  his  hand,  said  :  "  Sir,  we  feel  very  sorry 
for  you  in  your  great  misfortune.  You  have  our  deepest 
sympathy.     We  only  wish  we  could  help  you." 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  replied,  "  I  am  very  much  obliged  to 
you  for  your  kindness  and  sympathy.  But  I  am  all  right," 
and  forthwith  cast  the  drafts  on  the  table.  Then  there 
were  hearty  hand-shakings  and  congratulations.  That 
which,  according  to  human  eyesight,  came  so  near  being 
his  ruin,  gave  him  thenceforth  unbounded  credit,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  large  fortune. 

He  was  strong,  active,  cheerful  at  the  age  of  eighty-four, 
increased  in  goods,  full  of  }'ears,  still  trusting  in  God, 
waiting,  like  Abraham,  to  be  gathered  unto  his  people. 
"  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good  ;  and  He  shall  bring  it  tc 
pass." 


OLD    TESTAMENr  ANECDOTES. 


CCCXLV.  A  Wise  Decision.  Prov.  xxx.  8,  9.  ''Give 
vie  neither  poverty  nor  riches  ;  feed  me  with  food  co7ivenient  for 
vie:  Lest  I  be  full  and  deny  Thee,  and  say.  Who  is  the  Lord? 
or  lest  L  be  poor,  and  steal,  and  take  the  fiame  of  my  God  iti 
vain." 

We  have  a  quaint  love-letter  of  Joseph  Allcine's,  written 
in  1655  to  Mistress  Theodosia,  his  future  wife.  It  is  full 
of  beautiful  godliness  and  manliness.  In  it  he  speaks  of 
accepting  a  charge  at  Taunton,  where  the  encouragements 
in  point  of  maintenance  were  small.  These  are  some  of 
the  principles  upon  which  he  went  : — 

"  First,  I  lay  this  for  a  foundation,  that  a  man's  life  con- 
sistcth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  possesseth. 
It  was  accounted  a  wise  prayer  that  Agur  put  up  of  old, 
that  he  might  only  be  fed  with  food  convenient  for  him. 
And  certain  it  is,  that  where  men  have  least  of  the  world, 
they  esteem  it  least,  and  live  more  by  faith  and  in  depend- 
ence upon  God,  casting  their  care  and  burden  upon  Him. 
The  Holy  Ghost  seems  to  make  it  a  privilege  to  be  brought 
to  a  necessity  of  living  by  faith,  as  I  think  I  have  formerly 
hinted  thee,  out  of  Deuteronomy  xi.  10,  ii,  where  Canaan 
is  preferred  before  Egypt,  in  regard  to  its  dependence  upon 
God  for  the  former  and  latter  rain,  which  in  Egjpt  they 
could  live  without,  and  have  supplies  from  the  river.  And 
ccrtainl}' could  we  that  are  unexperienced, but  feel  the  thorns 
of  those  cares  and  troubles  that  there  are  in  gathering  and 
keeping  much,  and  the  danger  when  riches  increase  of 
setting  our  hearts  upon  them,  we  should  prize  the  happi- 
ness of  a  middle  condition  much  before  it. 

"  Secondly,  I  take  this  for  an  undoubted  truth,  that  a 
dram  of  grace  is  better  than  a  talent  of  wealth.  'Tis  a 
strange  thing  to  see  how  Christians  generally  do  judge  so 
carnally  of  things,  looking  to  the  things  that  are  seen  and 
temporal,  and  not  the  things  that  will  stick  by  us  to  eternity. 
What  is  it  worth  a  year?  Is  the  maintenance  certain  and 
sure,  and  what  changes  are  there  like  to  be  1  These  are 
the  questions  we  commonly  ask  first.  Yet — What  good 
am  I  like  to  do  ?  What  good  am  I  like  to  get  ?  These 
should  be  the  main  interrogatories." 


2c6  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANE(  DOTES. 

CCCXLVI.     Ingratitude  to  Parents.    Prov.  xxx.  17. 

"  l^ie  eye  that  viocketh  at  his  father^    .    .     .    the  ravens  of  the 
valley  shall  pick  it  out." 

Tins  is  a  terrible  denunciation  aj^ainst  ingratitude  to 
ix'vicnts,  and  even  in  the  present  day  is  sometimes  virtually 
fulfilled. 

Some  years  ago,  an  Irish  gentleman  who  was  an  exten- 
sive contractor  on  our  public  works,  was  reduced  to  poverty 
by  the  profligacy  and  dishonesty  of  an  ungrateful  son. 
The  old  man  lost  his  wife  ;  and  to  fill  up  the  cup  of  his 
sorrow,  he  lost  his  sight.  Thus  poor,  friendless,  blind,  for- 
saken, he  found  an  asylum  in  the  Franklin  County  Alms- 
house, Pennsylvania. 

Whilst  there,  his  wicked  and  ungrateful  son  travelled 
that  way.  He  was  informed  of  his  father's  situation  and 
desire  to  see  him  ;  but  he  refused  to  see  the  kind  father  he 
had  ruined.  Notice  the  result.  That  very  day  this  son 
was  overtaken  by  a  storm,  and  took  a  severe  cold  that 
resulted  in  the  destruction  of  his  eyes.  He  lay  in  Gettys- 
burg in  a  critical  state,  until  his  funds  were  exhausted,  and 
those  who  had  him  in  charge  took  him  to  the  Franklin 
County  Alms-house.  His  father  having  died  the  day  before, 
he  was  put  in  the  same  room  and  occupied  the  same  bed, 
and  in  a  short  time  followed  his  neglected  and  heart-broken 
father  to  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ. 

CCCXLVII.     Value  of  a  Christian  Mother.     Prov. 
xxxi.  I.     His  another  taught  him. 

The  Bishop  of  Carlisle  thus  bears  testimony  to  the  value 
of  a  real  Christian  mother,  at  a  meeting  of  mothers  and 
daughters.     Dr.  Harry  Goodwin  said  : — 

"  I  am  one  of  those  who  lost  their  mothers  at  a  very 
early  age.  I  was  very  little  over  six  years  old  when  my 
dear  mother  was  suddenly  taken  from  me.  I  mention  my 
age  that  I  may  put  before  you  the  effect  which  my  mother's 
teaching  had  upon  me,  and  the  tender  age  at  which  it 
ceased,  and  I  think  we  may  draw  from  it  some  useful 
lessons.  Now,  then,  when  I  look  back  to  the  teaching 
of  my  mother,  what  do  I  think  of  it .-'  I  say  deliberately, 
and  without  any  amount  of  exaggeration,  that  though  I 
have  since  that  time  been  at  school,  been  under  tutors, 


OLD    TESTAMEX^T  ANECDOTES.  207 

been  at  college,  and  bad  all  the  experience  of  life,  I  do 
not  hclicvc  that  all  the  lessons  that  I  have  received  .since 
that  time  put  together  amount  in  value  and  in  importance 
to  the  lessons  which  I  learned  from  my  mother  before  I 
was  seven  years  old.  What  did  she  teach  me  ?  She  did 
not  put  me  through  the  fifth  or  the  sixth  standard — we 
had  not  any  standards  in  those  days — but  she  taught  me 
a  great  many  things  which  were  better  than  standards. 

"  I  will  tell  you  one  of  the  first  lessons  she  taught  me. 
She  taught  me  always  to  speak  the  truth  :  and  the  lesson 
she  gave  me  concerning  truth  has  never  been  lost  upon  me. 
She  always  brought  me  up  in  the  feeling  that  what  was  to 
be  spoken  was  to  be  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth  ;  that  there  was  to  be  no  evasion,  that  everything 
was  to  be  stated  simply  and  honestl}',  exactly  as  it  occurred  ; 
and  I  will  tell  you  how  she  enforced  that  lesson — she  always 
spoke  truth  to  me.  I  never  caught  her  in  any  kind  of 
deceit  ;  I  always  knew  that  what  she  said  to  me  she  meant. 
I  was  always  sure  that  if  she  told  me  she  was  going  to 
do  a  thing,  she  would  do  it,  and  no  amount  of  coaxing  or 
persuasion  would  lead  her  to  change  her  mind.  Absolute 
truth,  absolute  in  the  smallest  matters — that  was  her  prac- 
tice, and  that  was  the  lesson  that  she  impressed  upon  me. 

"  Then  she  taught  me  to  say  my  prayers.  I  have  «s 
vivid  a  recollection  now,  at  a  distance  of  sixty  years,  as 
I  had  at  the  time,  of  the  manner  in  which  she  made  me 
kneel  down  at  her  knees,  and  with  her  hand  upon  my  head, 
taught  me  the  simple  prayers  which  are  suitable  for  child- 
hood. I  remember  how,  when  I  rose  up  from  my  knees, 
she  would  talk  to  me  about  some  simple  matter  suitable 
to  my  childish  days.  Those  early  lessons  of  prayer  have 
never  been  lost  to  me  ;  and  I  remember  afterwards,  when 
I  was  at  school,  and  when  I  was  submitted  to  all  the 
temptations  and  the  difficulties  to  which  boys  at  school 
are  submitted  ;  when  I  was  sleeping  in  a  room  with  boys 
about  me  who  did  not  pray,  and  who  laughed  at  those 
who  did,  I  remember  well  how  the  thought  of  my  dear 
mother  was  like  a  guardian  angel  over  me,  and  how  she 
kept  me  from  the  evil  which  these  boys  would  fain  have 
pressed  upon  me.  Then,  again,  she  enforced  upon  mc  full 
and  complete  obedience.  It  was  never  enforced  with  a 
threat ;  there  was  no  unkindness,  on  arbitrariness  in  the 


2o8  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

command  ;  .but  I  was  never  allowed  to  ask  any  reasons. 
I  felt  perfectly  certain  of  the  wisdom  which  dictated  the 
command,  and  I  was  always  tauglit  to  obey,  and  I  learned 
to  obey.  Then,  lastly,  I  was  taught  by  her,  and  by  practice 
more  than  words,  to  keep  my  temper.  She  taught  me  to 
do  that  by  keeping  her  own." 

CCCXLVIII.     A    Devoted  W^ife.     Prov.  xxxi.   ii,   12. 

'■''The  heart  of  her  husband  doth  safely  trust  in  her,  so  that  he 
shall  have  no  need  of  spoil.  She  tail  I  do  him  good  a7id  not  evil 
all  the  days  of  her  life." 

The  late  Robert  Moffat  had  a  most  noble  and  devoted 
wife  in  Mary  Moffat,  who  laboured  with  him  in  Southern 
Africa  unweariedly.  She  watched  over  her  husband's 
health  and  comfort  most  anxiously  for  more  than  fifty 
years,  and  she  used  to  say  that  it  was  a  great  satisfaction 
to  her  to  provide  for  the  temporal  wants  of  a  servant  of 
Christ  in  the  mission-field,  and  she  felt,  what  was  true, 
that  he  never  would  have  been  the  missionary  he  was  but 
for  her  care  of  him.  The  Home  Secretary  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society  says :  "  I  shall  never  forget  what  took 
place  in  my  official  room  at  the  Mission  House  soon  after 
their  return  from  Africa.  While  talking  over  their  past 
Id'bours,  Mrs.  Moffat,  looking  fondly  at  her  husband  first, 
turned  to  me  and  said,  '  Robert  can  never  say  that  / 
hindered  him  in  his  work! ' 

" '  No,  indeed,'  replied  Dr.  Moffat ;  '  but  I  can  tell  you 
she  has  often  sent  me  away  from  house  and  home  for 
months  together  for  evangelizing  work,  and  in  my  absence 
has  managed  the  station  as  well  or  better  than  I  could 
have  done  it  myself.'" 

Even  on  the  very  shore  of  the  dark  river  she  would  not 
rest  imtil  assured  that  his  wants  were  being  attended  to. 

Her  husband's  first  exclamation  on  finding  her  really 
gone  was,  "  For  forty-three  years  I  have  had  her  to  pray 
for  me." 

CCCXLIX.  One  of  the  Virtuous  Women.  Prov. 
xxxi.  20.  "  She  stretcheth  out  her  hand  to  the  poor :  yea,  she 
reacheth  forth  her  hands  to  the  needy. '^ 

Hannah    More   did  a  great  deal    at  the   close  of  last 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  209 

century  for  the  elevation  and  instruction  of  the  poor  rural 
population  round  her  home  at  Bath.  She  was  the  means 
of  startini^  a  number  of  schools  in  the  country  districts, 
where  the  people  were  very  ignorant  and  wicked  ;  and  she 
wrote  incessantly  simple  religious  tracts  and  other  literature, 
which  she  distributed  far  and  near. 

But  in  all  she  was  very  humble,  speaking  of  herself 
thus :  "  God  is  sometimes  pleased  to  work  by  the  most 
unworthy  instruments.  I  suppose  to  take  away  every 
shadow  of  doubt  that  it  is  His  own  doing.  It  always 
gives  me  the  idea  of  a  great  author  writing  with  a  very 
bad  pen." 

CCCL.     Labour   and   Sorrow.     Eccles.  i.  2.     '■'■Vanity 
of  vanities,  saith  the  Preacher." 

Goethe,  the  greatest  of  German  poets,  whose  long  life 
was  one  success,  said  :  "  They  have  called  me  a  child  of 
fortune,  nor  have  I  any  wish  to  complain  of  the  course  of 
my  life.  Yet  it  has  been  nothing  but  labour  and  sorrow; 
and  I  may  truly  say,  that  in  seventy-five  years  I  have  not 
had  four  weeks  of  true  comfort.  It  was  the  constant 
rolling  of  a  stone  that  was  always  to  be  lifted  anew." 

CCCLI.  An  Eloquent  Preacher.  Eccles.  i.  2. 
"  Vanity  of  vanities,  saith  the  Preacher,  vanity  of  vanities  ; 
all  is  vanity. ^^ 

One  night,  young  Bossuet,  who  possessed  in  such  an 
eminent  degree  the  power  of  eloquent  speech,  had  gone 
to  the  brilliant  salon  of  Rambouillet.  There  were 
gathered  in  that  famous  drawing-room  some  of  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  French  nobility,  ladies  and  gentlemen 
representing  the  wit,  the  learning,  and  the  cleverness  of 
Paris.  In  the  course  of  the  evening,  the  Marquis  de  Fen- 
quieres  referred  to  this  young  man  as  one  about  to  enter 
upon  an  ecclesiastical  career,  and  who,  from  what  he  had 
heard,  seemed  destined  to  be  a  great  preacher.  Suddenly 
some  one  suggested  that  he  might  interest  the  company 
by  preaching  a  sermon.  It  would  be  a  new  diversion,  and 
all  the  more  delightful  if  the  sermon  were  preached  im- 
promptu.    Texts  were  written    shaken  up  in  a  bag,  and 

P 


mo  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

one  of  the  illustrious  ladies  was  to  draw  one  out,  and  hand 
it  to  the  preacher.  The  room  was  arranged,  the  text  was 
drawn,  and  one  of  the  ladies  handed  it  to  the  youthful 
abbe.  He  was  to  have  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  which  to 
think  over  the  subject,  but  as  tlie  slip  was  handed  to 
him  he  waived  that  privilege.  How  strangely  the  words 
struck  on  the  assembly  as  the  grave  young  preacher 
read,  "  Vanity  of  vanities  !  all  is  vanity  !  "  At  first  some 
were  inclined  to  laugh,  but  ere  long  the  feelings  of  the 
assembly  were  swayed  in  another  direction.  The  fervour, 
the  boldness,  the  brilliance  of  that  extemporaneous  utter- 
ance astonished  all  ears  and  affected  all  hearts.  The 
sermon  was  long,  and,  as  will  be  guessed  from  the  occasion, 
there  is  no  report  of  it ;  but  at  its  close  the  Due  d'Enghien 
pressed  forward  to  grasp  the  preacher's  hand,  and  to  in- 
quire who  he  was,  and  whence  he  came.  He  came  from 
Uijon,  and,  unknown  till  that  night,  Bossuet  forthwith  took 
his  -place  as  "  a  bright  particular  star  "  in  the  religious 
firmament  of  France. 

CCCLII.     Worldly     Honour.     Eccles.  i.  2.     "Vanity 

of  vaiiities,  saith  the  FreacherJ" 

One  cannot  read  the  posthumous  memoirs  of  Chateau- 
briand, without  being  struck  with  the  illusive  nature  of 
worldly  honours  and  pleasures.  Contemporary  applause 
was  not  wanting  to  cheer  the  craving  spirit  of  this  scholar 
and  statesman.  The  author  of  the  "  Genius  of  Christianity  " 
and  the  ambassador  of  France  at  the  Court  of  London 
could  not  complain  that  honour  was  denied  him.  He  says, 
"  I  know  not  in  history  a  reputation  that  would  tempt  me : 
and  were  it  necessary  to  stoop  to  pick  up  from  my  feet  and 
for  my  own  advantage  the  greatest  glory  the  world  could 
offer,  I  would  not  give  myself  the  trouble." 

CCCLIII.       The    Courtier    and    the    Christian. 

Ecci.ES.  i.  14      '■'■Behold,  all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit." 

"  I  HAVK  recently  read  Solomon  with  a  kind  of  sympa- 
thetic feeling.  I  have  been  as  wicked  and  as  vain,  though 
not  as  wise,  as  he  (is  that  so  i") ;  but  I  feel  the  truth  of  his 
reflection,  'All  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.'"     So  said, 


OLD  TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  211 

at  the  last,  tlic  most  brilliant  wit,  the  most  accom[)lishe(l 
gentleman,  the  most  cultivated  speaker  and  the  most 
classic  scholar  of  the  luigiish  nobility  in  the  eighteenth 
century — Philip  Dormer  Stanhope,  I'^arl  of  Chesterfield. 

"  By  the  grace  of  Ciod  I  am  what  I  am  ;  nothing  in 
myself,  all  in  Christ."  So  said,  at  the  last,  a  genial  old 
man,  whose  bones  rest  in  Westminster  Abbey,  whose 
services  humanity  will  never  forget,  who  could  walk  fyom 
Gore  House  to  the  Parliament  Mouses,  repeating  to  him- 
self the  ninety-first  psalm,  and  then  by  a  persuasive 
eloquence,  chastened  by  pure  taste  and  enriched  by  classic 
allusion,  hold  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
entranced  while  he  depicted  the  horrors  of  the  slave  trade — 
William  Wilberforce. 


CCCLIV.  A  Hasty  Temper.  Eccles.  vii.  9.  ''Be  not 
hasty  in  thy  spirit  to  be  angry  :  for  anger  resteth  in  the  bosom 
of  fools." 

La  Fontaine,  chaplain  of  the  Prussian  Army,  once 
preached  a  very  earnest  and  eloquent  sermon  on  the  sin 
and  folly  of  yielding  to  a  hasty  temper.  The  next  day  he 
was  accosted  by  a  major  of  the  regiment  with  the  words  : 

"Well,  sir!  I  think  you  made  use  of  the  prerogatives  of 
your  office  to  give  me  some  very  sharp  hits  yesterday." 

"  I  certainly  thought  of  you  while  I  was  preparing  the 
sermon,"  was  the  answer;  "but  I  had  no  intention  of  being 
personal  or  sharp." 

"  Well,  it  is  of  no  use,"  said  the  major  ;  "  I  have  a  hasty 
temper,  and  I  cannot  help  it,  and  I  cannot  control  it  ;  it  is 
impossible." 

And,  still  adhering  to  this  opinion,  after  some  further 
conversation  he  went  his  way. 

The  next  Sabbath,  La  Fontaine  preached  upon  self- 
deception,  and  the  vain  excuses  which  men  are  wont  to 
make. 

"Why,"  said  he,  "a  man  will  declare  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  control  his  temper,  when  he  very  well  knows 
that  were  the  provocation  to  happen  in  the  presence  of 
his  sovereign,  he  not  only  could,  but  would,  control  him- 
self entirely.     And  yet  he  dares  to  say  that  the  continual 


212^  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

presence  of  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  impose 
upon  him  neither  restraint  nor  fear!  " 

CCCLV.  How  to  Die  Manfully.  Eccles.  viii.  12. 
"  Though  a  sinner  do  evil  an  hiindi-ed  times,  and  his  days  be. 
prolonged,  yet  surely  I  knoiv  that  it  shall  be  well  with  them 
that  fear  God,  which  fear  before  Him" 

Dr.  John  Godman  was  an  eminent  anatomist  and  natu- 
rahst,  who,  dying  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-one,  had 
aheady  made  himself  distinguished  through  the  country. 

For  the  greater  part  of  his  life  he  was  avowedly  an 
infidel  of  the  French  school,  rejecting  the  Bible,  and  blind 
to  the  wonderful  proofs,  furnished  by  his  profession,  of 
the  existence,  power, .and  wisdom  of  God.  But  while 
lecturing,  only  three  years  before  his  death,  to  his  medical 
class,  he  was  called  to  the  sick-bed,  and,  as  it  proved, 
the  dying-bed  of  one  of  his  students  who  was  a  Christian. 
Visiting  this  young  man  repeatedly,  and  witnessing  his 
joyous  anticipations  of  heaven,  and  his  triumph  over  death, 
he  saw  what,  as  a  sceptic,  he  was  unable  to  comprehend. 
His  philosophy  could  not  explain  it.  He  turned  to  the 
Bible,  and  there  the  secret  was  unfolded.  There  he  found 
that  Christ  was  the  Conqueror  of  death,  and  that  to  the 
believer  in  Him  its  sting  is  taken  away. 

Now  Dr.  Godman  turned  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  soon  found  joy  and  peace  in  believing  ;  so  that,  when 
he  finished  his  course,  commending  his  little  family  to  the 
Father  of  the  fatherless  and  the  widow's  God  and  portion, 
with  uplifted  eyes  and  a  beaming  countenance  he  resigned 
his  spirit  to  the  Redeemer,  and  sweetly  fell  asleep  in 
Jesus. 

Before  this,  however,  in  the  last  sickness  of  his  friend 
Dr.  Judson, — who,  though  a  brother  of  the  devoted  mis- 
sionary, was  an  open  infidel, — Dr.  Godman  addressed  to 
him  a  letter,  which  was  the  means  of  his  conversion. 
"  Philosophy,"  he  says  in  that  letter  still  extant,  "  is  a  fool, 
and  pride,  a  madman.  Many  persons  die  with  what  is 
called  manly  firnmess  ;  they  put  on  as  smooth  a  face  as 
they  can,  to  compose  on  the  spectators,  and  die  firmly. 
But  this  is  all  deception.  The  true  state  of  their  minds 
at  the  very  time,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  is  worse  than  the 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  213 

most  horrible  imaginings  of  hell  itself.  But  the  man  who 
dies  as  a  man  ought  to  die,  is  the  humble-minded  believing 
Christian.  He  does  not  die  manfully  (in  the  world's  sense 
of  that  term),  but  he  rests  lovingly  and  reverently  on 
Jesus. 

Dr.  Judson  also,  pointed  by  this  letter  to  the  only 
Saviour,  died  in  the  faith  ;  and  through  the  testimony  of 
his  death,  one  other  at  least  was  pointed  to  the  cross  of 
Christ,  and  led  to  rest  all  his  hopes  upon  it. 

CCCLVI.  Entering  the  Vineyard  at  the 
eleventh  Hour.  Eccles.  ix.  4.  "  For  to  kim  that  is 
ioined  to  all  the  living  there  is  hope." 

An  old  man  of  eighty-one  had  heard  in  his  early  youth 
the  celebrated  Mr.  Flavel  preach.  Instead  of  pronouncing 
the  blessing  at  the  close,  Mr.  Flavel  had  said,  "I  cannot 
bless  you !  How  can  I  bless  those  who  do  not  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  ?  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
let  him  be  accursed!"  The  solemn  sentence  came  into 
the  old  man's  remembrance  in  America,  and  at  the  eleventh 
hour  he  entered  the  vineyard. 

CCCLVII.     Do    it  Well.     Eccles.  ix.    to.     "  Whatsoet'er 
thy  hand  fin  deth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  ?night." 

What  ^  Everything  honest  that  you  attempt  to  do  at 
all! 

A  noble  saying  is  recorded  of  a  member  of  our  British 
House  of  Commons,  who  by  his  own  industry  and  perse- 
verance had  won  his  way  to  that  high  position.  A  proud 
scion  of  the  aristocracy  one  day  taunted  him  with  his 
humble  origin,  saying,  "  I  remember  when  you  blacked 
my  father's  boots."  "  Well,  sir,"  was  the  noble  response, 
"  did  I  not  do  it  ivcll  ?  " 

CCCLVIII.  Perseverance.  Eccles.  ix.  10.  "  JVhat- 
soever  thy  hand findeth  to  do,  do  it  mith  thy  inigJit ;  for  then 
is  no  work,  tior  device,  no/  know/edge,  ?ior  7Visdom,  in  the 
grave,  whither  thou  goest." 

Cyrus    Field,    in    giving    his    account   of    the   Atlantic 


214  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES, 

telegraph,  says,  "  It  has  been  a  long-  and  hard  struggle — 
nearly  thirteen  years  of  anxious  watching  and  ceaseless 
toil.  Often  has  my  heart  been  ready  to  sink.  Many  times, 
when  wandering  in  the  forests  of  Newfoundland  in  the 
pelting  rain,  or  on  the  deck  of  ships  on  dark,  stormy 
nights,  alone,  far  from  home,  I  have  almost  accused  myselt 
ot  madness  and  folly  to  sacrifice  the  peace  of  my  family, 
and  all  the  hopes  of  life,  for  what  might  prove,  after  all, 
but  a  dream.  I  have  seen  my  companions  one  after 
another  fall  by  my  side,  and  feared  I,  too,  might  not  live 
to  see  the  end.  And  yet  one  hope  has  led  me  on  ;  and  I 
have  prayed  that  I  might  not  taste  of  death  till  this  work 
was  accomplished.  That  prayer  is  answered ;  and  now, 
beyond  all  acknowledgments  to  men  is  the  feeling  of  grati- 
tude to  Almighty  God." 

CCCLIX.     Courage  in  Helping  the  Wrong  Doer. 

EccLES.  ix.  ID.     "  Whatsoever  thy  hatid  findeth  to  do,  do  h 
with  thy  might." 

David  King,  then  a  student  gouig  to  Edinburgh  Univer- 
sity, had  taken  his  passage  from  Montrose  to  Leith  in  a 
small  coasting  vessel.  "  He  had  gone  down  to  the  quay  to 
embark,  but  the  appearance  of  the  passengers,  and  the 
filth  and  bad  smells  everywhere  so  disgusted  him,  that  he 
was  hesitating  whether  he  should  sail  after  all,  when  a  man 
of  respectable  appearance  accosted  him,  and  pointing  to 
a  repulsive-looking  character  who  was  getting  on  board 
at  that  moment,  said  ;  '  That  is  a  criminal  flying  from 
justice  ;  and  if,  as  I  believe,  you  are  studying  for  the 
ministry,  you  may  have  an  opportunity  of  doing  some  good 
during  the  voyage.'  The  man  indicated  seemed  a  thorough 
scoundrel,  who  could  be  rough  and  scornful  if  interfered 
with  ;  and  the  idea  of  being  in  the  same  dirty  cabin  with  , 
him,  perhaps  for  days,  was  so  utterly  repugnant  to  the 
nervous  and  sensitive  lad,  that  he  left  the  vessel  and  went 
home.  When  he  told  his  parents  the  circumstances,  his 
father,  after  a  little  consideration,  said  :  '  Well,  I  will  not 
urge  you  ;  but  in  passing  through  life  you  will  have  need 
of'  moral  courage,  and  it  might  be  for  your  future  good 
to  show  some  nerve  now.'  Tliese  words  sent  him  back 
to  the  vessel,  and  he  went  on  board  with  a  failing  heart. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  215 

Scarcely  were  they  out  at  sea  when  the  man  bec,'an  to 
swear  violently,  took  whisky  out  of  his  box,  and,  having 
drunk  plentifully  himself,  handed  it  about  to  the  sailors. 
The  passengers  became  alarmed,  the  captain  was  appealed 
to,  and  under  his  authority  the  baggage  of  the  offender 
was  searched,  all  the  spirits  taken  away,  and  severe 
measures  threatened,  if  he  caused  further  trouble.  By  this 
means  the  disturbance  was  ended,  and  the  fears  of  the 
passengers  calmed.  But  though  all  was  quiet,  the  young 
student  could  find  no  repose;  and  urged  by  his  conscience, 
which  upbraided  him  with  a  neglect  of  duty,  he  rose  at 
dead  of  night  and  sought  the  wretched  runaway.  On  the 
deck  of  the  little  vessel  he  found  him,  and  there,  out  at  sea 
in  darkness  and  solitude,  the  man  was  in  a  changed  mood, 
and  he  received  his  visitor  with  a  degree  of  courtesy. 
This  was  an  opportunity  not  to  be  lost,  and  King  began 
a  serious  conversation  with  him.  After  some  earnest  talk, 
he  asked  if  any  one  had  ever  expostulated  with  him  in 
such  a  manner  before.  '  No,'  he  answered  ;  '  but  I  am  not 
so  ignorant  as  you  might  think.  I  have  read  a  good  many 
tracts,  and  most  of  them  tell  of  sudden  conversions,  so  that 
I  have  had  an  idea  I  might  be  converted  suddenly  some 
day  myself  '  And  what  if  this  be  the  day  ? '  said  the 
youth.  ' "  Now  is  the  accepted  time,  now  is  the  day  of 
salvation."  If  nobody  has  spoken  with  you  in  this  manner 
before,  perhaps  nobody  may  again.'  During  the  remainder 
of  the  passage  the  man  was  quiet,  thoughtful,  obliging,  and 
at  parting  he  testified  deep  gratitude  to  young  King  for  his 
remonstrances,  and  expressed  the  hope  of  being  thenceforth 
a  changed  character." 

CCCLX.     The  Worm  at   the   Root.     Eccles.   ix.    18. 
"  One  sinner  destroycth  much  good." 

A  GENTLEMAN  had  two  beautiful  young  mountain  ash  trees 
in  his  garden,  which  he  tended  very  carefully  from  season 
to  season.  As  might  have  been  expected,  tlie  twin  trees 
repaid  his  labour  in  their  rapid  growth  and  beauty  of  form. 
After  a  while,  from  some  mysterious  cause,  one  of  the  trees 
stopped  growing.  The  other  continued  to  spread  out  its 
branches  and  leaves,  and  seemed  to  wax  taller  and  hand- 
somer every  day ;  but  this  one  resisted  all   the  combined 


2i6  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

influences  of  the  season,  rich  dressings,  and  carefnl  atten- 
dance. In  vain  the  proprietor  loosened  the  soil  around  its 
roots,  again  and  again.  In  vain  the  sweet  rains  watered  it, 
and  the  kind  sun  shone.  At  last  the  owner  determined  to 
make  a  thorough  examination  of  its  roots,  and  throwing  up 
the  earth,  he  carefully  scraped  them  with  his  knife  and 
washed  them  with  water,  whereupon,  just  at  the  bottom  of 
the  trunk,  he  discovered  three  or  four  little  holes,  and  after 
some  skilful  probing,  brought  to  light  the  mischievous 
worker  in  the  shape  of  a  borer-worm.  This  removed,  the 
gentleman  hoped  the  best  for  his  tree.  But  it  never  grew 
any  more.     He  was  obliged  to  cut  it  down. 

''  One  sinner  destroyeth  much  good,"  and  he  is  tenfold 
the  more  destructive  if  he  can  conceal  his  depravity  until 
he  has  done  all  the  harm  he  wishes.  So  we  sometimes  see 
the  choicest  advantages  of  education  and  religion  lavished 
upon  a  boy  or  young  man  without  any  effect.  He  grows 
morally  worse  instead  of  better.  Watch  closely  for  a 
while,  and  it  is  but  too  likely  you'll  find  a  wicked  associate 
in  the  secret  of  it.  Thank  God  if  that  borer-worm  has  not 
sapped  his  virtue  beyond  recovery. 

CCCLXI.  Saved  by  a  Newspaper  Scrap.  Eccles. 
xi.  I.  "  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters  :  for  thou  shaltfind  it 
after  many  days" 

Mr.  Spurgeon  tells  the  following  interesting  fact :  "  Our 
son  Tom,  in  a  letter  written  to  his  mother  from  Auckland, 
New  Zealand,  enclosed  a  portion  torn  off  an  old  Australian 
paper,  concerning  which  he  sends  the  following  interesting 
particulars  : — 

"  '  This  scrap  of  newspaper  has  been  given  me  by  a  town 
missionary  here,  who  regards  it  as  a  very  precious  relic. 
It  came  to  him  from  a  man  who  died  in  the  hospital,  and 
bequeathed  it  to  his  visitor  as  a  great  treasure.  It  is  a 
portion  of  the  Melbourne  Argus,  and  of  father's  sermon 
("  Loving  Advice  for  Anxious  Seekers,"  No.  735). 

" '  The  man  found  it  on  the  floor  of  a  hut  in  Australia, 
and  was  brought  by  its  perusal  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus.  He  kept  it  carefully  while  he  lived  (for  it 
was  discoloured  and  torn  when  he  found  it),  and  on  his 
death-bed  he  gave  it  to  the  missionary  as  the  only  treasure 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  217 

he  had  to  leave  behind  him.  I  thought  dear  father  might 
like  to  have  it  in  his  book  ;  if  not,  send  it  back  to  me,  that 
I  may  return  it  to  its  owner,  who  says  he  often  feels  en- 
couraged by  glancing  at  it.  It  was  his  desire,  however, 
that  I  should  send  it  home,  that  the  dear  preacher  might 
be  encouraged." 

CCCLXII.  The  Power  of  a  Hymn.  Eccles.  xi.  i. 
"  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters :  for  thou  shalt  find  it  after 
many  days." 

Probably  few  modern  hymns  have  wandered  more  widely 
over  the  world,  been  pasted  into  more  scrap-books,  or 
comforted  more  invalids  than  the  one  of  Phoebe  Gary's, 
beginning,  "One  sweetly  solemn  thought."  She  composed 
it  in  a  little  third-story  bedroom  after  coming  from  church 
one  Sabbath  morning  in  1852.  The  following  incident, 
taken  from  Mrs.  Mary  Clemmer's  life  of  the  Gary  sisters, 
shows  how  it  influenced  two  tempted  and  erring  men  on 
the  other  side  of  the  globe  to  lead  better  lives.  The  old 
man  spoken  of  became  an  earnest  working  Ghristian,  while 
"  Harry  "  renounced  gambling  and  its  attendant  vices  : — 

A  gentleman  in  China,  entrusted  with  packages  for  a 
young  man  from  his  friends  in  the  United  States,  learned 
that  he  would  probably  be  found  in  a  certain  gambling 
house.  He  went  thither,  but  not  seeing  the  young  man, 
sat  down  and  waited,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  come  in. 
The  place  was  a  bedlam  of  noises,  men  getting  angry  over 
their  cards,  and  frequently  coming  to  blows.  Near  him  sat 
two  men — one  young,  the  other  forty  years  of  age.  They 
were  betting  and  drinking  in  a  terrible  way,  the  older  one 
giving  utterance  continuallyto  the  foulest  profanity.  Two 
games  had  been  finished,  the  young  man  losing  each  time. 
The  third  game,  with  fresh  bottles  of  brandy,  had  just 
begun,  and  the  young  man  sat  lazily  back  in  his  chair 
while  the  oldest  shuflled  his  cards.  The  man  was  a  long 
lime  dealing  the  cards,  and  the  young  man,  looking  care- 
lessly about  the  room,  began  to  hum  a  tune.  He  went  on, 
till  at  length  he  began  to  sing  the  hymn  of  Phoebe  Gary, 
above  quoted.  "The  words,"  sa\  s  the  writer  of  the  story, 
"  repeated  in  such  a  vile  place,  at  first  made  me  shudder. 
A  Sabbath-school  hymn  in  a  gambling  den  !      But  while 


2i8  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

the  young  man  sang,  the  elder  stopped  dealing  the  cards, 
stared  at  the  singer  a  moment,  and,  throwing  the  cards  on 
the  floor,  exclaimed,  '  Harry,  where  did  you  learn  that 
tune?' 

"  '  What  tune  ? ' 

" '  Why,  that  one  you've  been  singing,* 

"  The  young  man  said  he  did  not  know  what  he  had 
been  singing,  when  the  elder  repeated  the  words,  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  and  the  young  man  said  he  had  learned  them 
in  a  Sunday-school  in  America. 

"'Come,'  said  the  elder,  getting  up;  'come,  Harry; 
here's  what  I  won  from  you  ;  go  and  use  it  for  some  good 
purpose.  As  for  me,  as  God  sees  me,  I  have  played  my 
last  game,  and  drank  my  last  bottle.  I  have  misled  you, 
Harry,'and  I  am  sorry.  Give  me  your  hand,  my  boy,  and 
say  that  for  old  America's  sake,  if  for  no  other,  you  will 
quit  this  infernal  business.'  " 


CCCLXIII.     Family  Worship.    Eccles.  xi.  6.    '' In  the 

morning  sow  thy  seed,  and  in  the  evening  withhold  not  thine 
hand." 

The  following  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  circumstances 
in  the  life  of  the  late  John  Ryland,  Baptist  minister  at 
Northampton  : — 

Being  on  a  journey,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  violent 
storm,  and  compelled  to  take  shelter  in  the  first  inn  he 
came  to.  The  people  of  the  house  treated  him  with  great 
kindness.  When  the  hour  of  rest  approached,  the  stranger 
appeared  uneasy,  and  looked  up  every  time  the  door 
opened,  as  if  expecting  something  essential  to  his  comfort. 
His  host  informed  him  that  his  chamber  was  prepared 
whenever  he  chose  to  retire. 

"  But,"  said  he,  "  you  have  not  had  your  family  to- 
gether." 

"  I  don't  know  what  you  mean,"  said  the  landlord. 

"  To  read  and  pray  with  them,"  replied  the  guest. 

The  landlord  confessed  that  he  never  thought  of  doing 
such  a  thing. 

"Then,  sir,"  said  Mr.  Ryland,  "  I  must  beg  you  to  order 
my  horse  immediately:  I  had  rather  brave  the  storm  than 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  219 

venture  to  sleep  in  a  house  where  there  is  no  prayer.  Whc 
can  tell  what  may  befal  us  before  morning?" 

Tiie  landlord  remonstrated  with  him,  and  said  he  had 
no  objection  to  call  his  family  together,  but  he  should  not 
know  what  to  do  when  they  came.  Mr.  Ryland  then  pro- 
posed to  conduct  family  worship,  to  which  all  consented. 

When  he  rose  from  his  knees,  almost  every  individual 
present  was  bathed  in  tears,  and  the  inquiry  was  awakened 
in  every  heart,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  This 
day  was  indeed  the  beginning  of  days  to  that  family,  and 
they  became  the  means  of  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel  in  a  neighbourhood  which  had  been  before  pro- 
verbially dark  and  destitute. 

CCCLXIV.  Resistance  to  Melancholy.  Eccles. 
xi.  7.  "  Truly  the  light  is  sweet,  a7ui  a  pleasant  thing  it  is 
for  the  eyes  to  behold  the  sun." 

Dante  condemns  to  the  Stygian  marsh  those  who  had 
been  sad  under  the  blessed  sunlight.  "  Sad  were  we  in  the 
sweet  air  that  is  gladdened  by  the  sun,  bearing  sluggish 
smoke  in  our  hearts ;  now  lie  we  sadly  here  in  the  black 
ooze." 

CCCLXV.  Reverencing  Conscience.  Eccles. 
xi.  9.  ^^  But  know  thou  that  for  all  these  things  God  will 
bring  thee  into  judgment.'^ 

An  ancient  Persian  fabulist  tells  the  story  of  a  king,  who, 
having  hanged  his  general  because  he  had  lost  a  battle, 
resolved  in  his  rage  to  kill  the  widow  and  children  of  the 
unfortunate  officer  also.  The  whole  country  was  in  distress 
because  of  this  cruel  and  unjust  resolution,  and  numerous 
petitions  were  sent  in.  But  all  was  in  vain.  The  despot 
grew  the  more  implacable  the  more  his  sense  of  humanity 
was  appealed  to.  One  day  the  king's  chief  counsellor 
threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  master,  and  asked  for 
justice.  He  was  accompanied  by  his  daughter,  a  woman 
of  unparalleled  beauty.  "  Ruler  of  the  world,"  he  said, 
"your  physician,  seeing  that  my  daughter  surpasses  his 
daughter  in  beauty,  as  the  sun  surpasses  the  moon  in  glory, 
has  in  a  fit  of  jealousy  deformed  my  child  bv  throwing  a 
caustic  fluid  over  her  face."      Having  said  these  words,  he 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


unveiled  his  daughter's  head.  An  ugly  black  spot  was 
exposed,  which  monstrously  disfigured  the  otherwise  beau- 
tiful countenance  of  the  poor  girl. 

The  king,  roused  to  anger  by  the  sight,  immediately  sent 
for  his  physician. 

"  Why  have  you  done  this  to  the  woman  } "  he  asked. 

The  physician  gave  no  reply. 

"  By  the  sun  and  all  his  hosts,"  cried  the  king,  '*  with 
thy  head  shalt  thou  pay  for  this  oftence !  " 

He  beckoned  to  the  captain  of  the  guard,  who  at  once 
stepped  forward  to  execute  the  verdict.  But  the  physician 
produced  a  sponge  from  his  bosom,  and,  dipping  it  into  a 
basin  of  water,  with  one  stroke  thoroughly  washed  awa}- 
the  black  spot. 

"  What  is  this  } "  asked  the  king,  in  a  voice  of  glad 
surprise. 

"Ruler  of  the  world,"  the  counsellor  answered,  "you 
have  sentenced  my  friend  the  physician  to  death  because 
he  only  disfigured  a  girl's  face  by  a  stain  which  could  be 
washed  off  easily,  but  what  sentence  will  the  eternal  Judge 
have  to  pass  upon  you,  if  you  cast  such  a  stain  upon  your 
conscience  as  you  purpose — a  stain  which  all  the  water  of 
the  ocean  cannot  wash  away.''" 

The  king,  deeply  struck  by  this  question,  abandoned  his 
cruel  intention,  and  sent  the  widow  and  children  of  the 
deceased  general  home,  enriched  with  tokens  of  his  princely 
munificence. 

This  fable,  in  spirit  like  many  other  passages  in  the 
writings  of  the  heathen  authors,  confirms  the  truth  of  the 
observation,  that  reverence  for  a  pure  conscience  is~  so 
deeply  implanted  in  our  nature,  that  even  sin,  with  all  its 
destructive  effect  upon  man's  moral  sense,  has  not  been 
able  altogether  to  destroy  it. 

CCCLXVI.       Conspicuous     for     exceeding     Sin. 

EcCLES.  xi.  9.  "Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy  youth  ;  afid 
let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and  loalk  in 
the  ways  of  thifie  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thifie  eyes :  but 
knoiu  thou,  that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee  into 
judgment y 

About   a   century   ago,  there   flourished   in   the  city   of 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


Glasgow  a  club  of  young  men,  which,  from  the  extreme 
profligacy  of  its  members,  and  the  licentiousness  of  their 
orgies,  was  commonly  called  the  Hell  Club.  Besides  their 
other  meetings,  it  was-  their  custom  to  hold  one  great 
annual  gathering,  at  which  each  tried  to  surpass  the  other 
in  extravagance  of  riot ;  and  on  these  occasions  one  young 
man — who,  gifted  with  brilliant  talents  and  a  handsome 
person,  had  at  one  time  raised  hopes  which  he  had  sub- 
sequently destroyed — was  ever  conspicuous  for  his  exceed- 
ing sin. 

On  retiring  to  rest  after  one  of  these  annual  festivals,  he 
had  the  following  dream  : — He  fancied  that  he  was  mounted 
upon  a  favourite  black  horse,  and  was  riding  homeward  in 
the  dusk,  when  a  stranger,  whom  the  gloom  prevented  him 
from  seeing  distinctly,  seized  his  horse's  rein,  saying,  "  You 
must  go  with  me." 

"And  who  are  you  ?"  exclaimed  the  young  man  with  an 
oath,  as  he  struggled  to  free  himself. 

"  That  you  will  see  presently,"  returned  the  other,  in  a 
tone  which  thrilled  such  an  unaccountable  terror  through 
even  his  reckless  breast  that,  plunging  his  spurs  into  his 
horse,  he  attempted  to  fly,  but  in  vain  ;  however  fast  the 
animal  flew,  the  stranger  was  still  at  his  side,  till  at  length, 
in  his  desperate  efforts  to  escape,  the  rider  was  thrown, 
but  instead  of  being  dashed  to  the  ground,  he  found  himself 
falling — falling — falling  still,  as  if  sinking  into  the  bowels 
of  the  earth. 

"  Where  am  I  ?  Where  are  you  taking  me  to } "  he 
gasped  out. 

"  To  hell,"  replied  the  stranger,  while  interminable  echoes 
repeated  the  fearful  sound,  "  To  hell !  to  hell  1  to  hell !  " 

On  coming  to  a  standstill,  he  found  himself  at  the 
entrance  of  a  splendid  building.  Instead,  however,  of  the 
expected  cries  and  groans  and  lamentations,  nothing  was 
heard  but  sounds  of  music  and  rejoicing.  On  entering,  he 
soon  perceived  that  he  was  amongst  old  acquaintances, 
whom  he  knew  to  be  dead,  and  all  of  them  he  observed 
were  following  the  pursuits  which  had  most  engrossed  them 
on  earth.  Approaching  one  of  these — a  lady  whom  he  had 
known  as  an  inveterate  gambler — he  asked  her  to  cease 
awhile  from  play,  and  to  introduce  him  to  the  pleasures  of 
a  place  which  seemed  so  very  unlike  what  he  expected. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


But,  with  a  cry  of  agony,  she  answered  that  there  was  no 
rest  in  hell ;  that  they  must  for  ever  toil  on  in  those  very 
pleasures  and  pursuits  to  which  they  had  abandoned  them- 
selves while  on  earth.  In  the  midst  of  the  terror  which 
this  inspired,  his  conductor  returned,  and  on  his  earnest 
entreaty  restored  him  again  to  earth,  leaving  him,  however, 
with  the  words,  "  Remember  !  in  a  year  and  a  day  we  meet 
again !  " 

At  this  crisis  of  his  dream  the  sleeper  awoke,  feverish 
and  ill  ;  and,  either  from  the  effects  of  the  dream,  or  from 
his  previous  excess,  he  was  for  several  days  seriously 
unwell.  During  this  period  he  had  time  for  grave  re- 
flection, which  ended  in  a  resolution  to  abandon  the  club 
and  his  licentious  companions  altogether. 

After  getting  well,  however,  his  companions,  to  whom  he 
told  the  reason  of  his  leaving  them,  soon  contrived  to  make 
him  ashamed  of  his  good  resolutions.  He  resumed  his 
former  course  of  life,  and  when  the  next  annual  meeting 
came  round,  he  was,  as  usual,  the  most  reckless  of  all  the 
guests. 

On  rising  to  make  the  customary  speech,  the  president 
observed,  "  This  being  leap-year,  it  is  a  year  and  a  day  since 
our  last  anniversary."  The  words  struck  on  the  young 
man's  ear  like  a  knell ;  but  ashamed  to  expose  himself  to 
the  jeers  of  his  companions,  he  sat  out  the  night,  drowning 
fearful  thoughts  in  wine  and  revelry.  Then,  in  the  gloom 
of  a  winter's  morning,  he  mounted  his  horse  to  ride  home. 

Some  hours  afterwards  the  horse  was  found  quietly 
grazing  by  the  roadside,  whilst  a  few  yards  off  lay  the 
corpse  of  his  master. 


CCCLXVII.  A  Soldier's  Bible.  Eccles.  xi.  9. 
"  Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy  youth,  and  let  thy  heart  cheer 
thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth  ;  a/id  walk  in  the  ways  of  thy 
heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes :  but  know  thou,  that  for 
all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment." 

It  was  customary  in  Cromwell's  time  for  his  soldiers  to 
carry  each  a  Bible  in  his  pocket ;  among  others,  a  profligate 
young  man,  who  was  ordered  out  to  attack  some  fortress. 
During  the  engagement  a  bullet  had  perforated  his  Bible, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


and  gone  so  far  as  to  rest  opposite  the  above  text.  These 
words,  so  appropriate  to  his  case,  powerfully  affected  his 
mind,  and  pro\cd,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  the  means  of 
his  conversion.  He  used  to  observe,  that  the  Bible  had 
been  the  happy  means  of  saving  both  his  soul  and  his 
body. 

CCCLXVIII.  The  Day  of  Affliction.  Eccles.  xii.  3. 
"  In  the  day  7vhcn  the  keepers  of  the  house  shall  tremble,  and 
the  strong  7nen  shall  bow  themselves''' 

It  is  told  of  the  saintly  Joseph  Alleine,  that  in  his  last 
illness  he  suddenly  lost  the  use  of  all  his  limbs.  Looking 
at  his  dead  hands,  he  said,  "  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away,  and  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
Some  of  his  old  friends  having  gathered  round  him,  he  said 
to  them,  "  I  have  lived  a  sweet  life  by  the  promises,  and 
I  hope,  through  grace,  can  die  by  a  promise.  It  is  the 
promises  of  God,  which  are  everlasting,  that  will  stand  by 
us.  Nothing  but  God  in  them  will  stead  us  in  a  day  of 
affliction." 

CCCLXIX.     The  Grave.     Eccles.  xii.  5.     '' Man  goelh  to 
his  long  home." 

A  Welsh  pastor  reaching  his  house  after  following  his 
wife  to  the  grave,  said,  "  I  have  seen  my  grave  to-day,  but 
having  seen  Calvary  long  ago,  I  am  not  afraid  of  it" 

CCCLXX.      Nearly     Home.      Eccles.    xii.  5.      ''Man 
goeth  to  his  long  hojne." 

"Almost  well,  and  nearly  at  ho7ne"  said  the  dying  Baxter, 
when  asked  how  he  was  by  a  friend.  A  martyr,  when  ap- 
proaching the  stake,  being  questioned  as  to  how  he  felt, 
answered,  "  Never  better  ;  for  now  I  know  that  I  am  almost 
at  home."  Then  looking  over  the  meadows  between  him 
and  the  place  where  he  was  to  be  immediate'}'  burnt,  he 
said,  "  Only  two  more  stiles  to  get  over,  and  1  am  at  my 
Father's  house."  "  Dying,"  said  the  Rev.  S.  Medley,  "  is 
sweet  work,  sweet  work  ;  home  !  home  !  "  Another  on  his 
death-bed  said,  "  I  am  going  home  as  fast  as  I  can,  and  I 
bless  God  that  /  have  a  good  home  to  go  to." 


224  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCLXXI.  Retribution.  Eccles.  xii.  14.  ''For  God 
shall  br'uig  every  work  into  jud\:;ment  with  every  secret  thing, 
whether  it  be  good,  or  whether  it  be  evil.'" 

The  doctrine  of  retribution  is  held  by  the  Moslems  in  its 
most  rigid  form — more  rigid,  indeed,  than  in  the  Christian 
system  ;  for  there  is  no  atonement  for  sin.  The  judgment 
is  inexorable  ;  it  is  absolute  and  eternal.  Before  their 
eyes  ever  stands  the  Day  of  Judgment — the  Dies  Irae — 
when  all  men  shall  appear  before  God  to  receive  their 
doom. 

But  in  that  last  day,  when  unbelievers  shall  be  destroyed, 
the  followers  of  the  Prophet  shall  be  saved.  They  can  go 
to  the  tribunal  of  their  Maker  without  trembling.  One 
day  riding  outside  the  walls  of  Constantinople,  we  ap- 
proached a  cemetery  just  as  a  funeral  procession  drew 
near,  bearing  the  form  of  the  dead.  We  stopped  to  witness 
the  scene.  The  mourners  gathered  around  the  place  where 
the  body  was  laid,  and  then  the  ulema  approached  the 
grave,  and  began  an  address  to  the  dead,  telling  her  (it  was 
a  woman)  not  to  be  afraid  when  the  angel  came  to  call  her 
to  judgment,  but  to  appear  before  the  bar  of  the  Almighty, 
and  answer  without  fear,  for  that  no  follower  of  the  Prophet 
should  perish. 

CCCLXXII.    A     Malarial    Atmosphere.     Song  of 
Sol.  i.  6.     "  Mine  own  vineyard  have  I  not  kej>t." 

Malarias  are  dangerous  because  they  do  not  address 
themselves  to  any  sense.  We  can  put  up  lightning-rods 
to  ward  off  thunder-bolts,  but  no  man  can  put  up  rods 
that  will  protect  him  from  a  poisonous  atmosphere.  The 
sweetest  and  most  beauteous  days  in  New  Orleans  are 
those  in  which  death  strikes  most  terribly  in  times  of 
pestilence.  It  cannot  be  detected  by  sight  or  by  touch, 
and  that  is  what  makes  it  so  dreadful.  Now  we  are  walk- 
ing in  a  malarial  atmosphere  continually — not  one  that 
attacks  the  body,  but  one  that  infects  the  soul.  There  are 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  world  silent  corrupting  forces  of 
which  men  are  quite  unconscious — pride,  vanity,  the  love 
of  money,  greed,  rivalries,  and  various  other  noxious  ele- 
ments, and  nothing  but  the  inward  spiritual  vigilance  will 
make  man  a  match  for  these  things. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  225 

CCCLXXIII.  Beware  of  the  Ivy  Green.  Song  of 
Sol.  ii.  15.  "  Take  us  the  foxes,  the  lillle  foxes  that  spoil  the 
vines." 
In  the  gardens  of  Hampton  Court  you  will  see  many  trees 
entirely  vanquished  and  well  nigh  stran£:^led  by  huge  coils 
of  ivy,  which  are  wound  about  tliem  like  the  snakes  around 
the  unhappy  Laocoon  ;  there  is  no  untwisting  the  folds, 
they  are  too  giantlike,  and  fast  fixed,  and  every  hour  the 
rootlets  of  the  climber  are  sucking  the  life  out  of  the  un- 
happy tree.  Yet  there  was  a  day  when  the  ivy  was  a  tiny 
aspirant,  only  asking  a  little  aid  in  climbing  ;  had  it  been 
denied  then  the  tree  had  never  become  its  victim,  but  by 
degrees  the  humble  weakling  grew  in  strength  and  arro- 
gance, and  at  last  it  assumed  the  mastery,  and  the  tall  tree 
became  the  prey  of  the  creeping,  insinuating  destroyer. 
The  moral  is  too  obvious.  Sorrowfully  do  we  remember 
many  noble  characters  which  have  been  ruined  little  and 
little  by  insinuating  habits.  Drink  has  been  the  ivy  in 
many  cases.  Reader,  see  to  it,  lest  some  slowly  advancing 
sin  overpower  you  :  men  who  are  murdered  by  slow  poison- 
ing die  just  as  surely  as  those  who  take  arsenic. 

CCCLXXIV.    Early  and  Late  with  God.     Song  of 
Sol.  iii.  2.     *■'■  I  will  seek  him  whom  my  soul  loveth." 

Alleine  once  wrote  to  a  dear  friend,  "Though  I  am 
apt  to  be  unsettled  and  quickly  set  off  the  hinges,  yet, 
methinks,  I  am  like  a  bird  out  of  the  nest,  I  am  never 
quiet  till  I  am  in  my  old  way  of  communion  with  God  ; 
like  the  needle  in  the  compass,  that  is  restless  till  it  be 
turned  towards  the  pole.  I  can  say,  through  grace,  with 
the  Church,  '  With  my  soul  have  I  desired  thee  in  the 
night,  and  with  my  spirit  within  me  have  I  sought  thee 
early.'  My  heart  is  early  and  late  with  God ;  'tis  the 
business  and  delight  of  my  life  to  seek  him." 

CCCLXXV.       The     Legend     of    St.     Marguerite. 

Song  of  Sol.  iv.    16.      ""Blow  upon  my  garden,  that  the 

spices  thereof  may  flow  out.     Let  my  beloved  come  into  his 

garden,  and  eat  his  pleasant  fruits." 

The  peasantry  of  the   Litoral  tell  a  singular  legend   to 

the  first  founder  of  the  Abbey,     They  say  that  when  St, 

Q 


226  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Honorat  arrived  on  the  island  shore  he  was  accompanied 
by  his  sister,  St.  Marguerite,  who  had  a  number  of  nuns  as 
her  companions.  The  mind  of  her  brother,  however,  was  not 
satisfied  at  seeing  the  island  thus  occupied  by  the  female 
portion  of  the  community  ;  and  yet  he  did  not  know  what 
to  do.  The  two  islands  at  that  distant  period  formed  but 
one.  However,  he  thought  much  upon  it,  and  at  last  he 
proposed  to  his  sister  that  she  and  her  companions  should 
betake  themselves  to  the  farthest  shore,  near  where  the 
fortress  of  St.  Marguerite  now  stands,  and  that  he  and 
his  monks  would  retain  the  abbey.  Still  he  did  not  feel 
happy  about  it ;  and  at  last,  after  a  restless  night,  during 
which  loud  peals  of  thunder  reverberated  among  the 
mountains,  and  lightning  flashes  played  along  the  snow- 
girt  peaks  of  the  Alps,  and  the  tall  pines  were  torn  up  by 
the  roots,  and  the  fierce  waves  moaned  around  the  abbey 
shore,  when  St.  Honorat  went  forth  at  dawn,  he  saw  to 
his  amazement  that  a  deep,  broad  channel  now  intervened 
between  the  islands — the  island  having  been  rent  in  twain. 

For  a  time  St.  Honorat  was  content.  He  used  to  pay 
a  visit  occasionally  to  his  sister ;  and  as  he  dearly  loved 
strawberries,  he  chiefly  then,  when  this  fruit  was  in  season, 
went  to  his  sister's  isle,  where,  in  the  sunny  shelter  of  this, 
the  warmest  spot  of  the  Litoral,  the  fruit  used  to  grow 
abundantly.  At  last  his  over-scrupulous  mind  began  to 
question  whether  it  was  even  right  for  him  to  visit  the 
island  at  all.  Many  a  restless  night  the  saint  passed,  his 
mind  oscillating  between  affection  for  his  sister  and  the 
overstrained  dictates  of  a  morbid  mind. 

When  St.  Marguerite,  who  had  no  such  manner  of 
scruples,  perceived  that  her  brother  came  not  as  often 
as  before,  she  reasoned  with  him,  and  at  last  he  agreed 
still  to  continue  his  visits  as  long  as  the  strawberries 
should  bear  fruit,  but  for  the  rest  of  the  year  he  deter- 
mined never  to  visit  St.  Marguerite.  And  now  his  sister 
dispatched  messengers  to  all  the  countries  round,  and 
charged  them  to  biing  back  the  earliest  and  the  latest 
flowering  strawberry  plants  that  they  could  find.  In  fact, 
she  managed  it  so  well  that  one  quarter  of  the  island 
became  an  immense  strawberry  bed.     .     .     . 

Many  an  anxious  hour  was  spent  by  St.  Marguerite  on 
her  own  island,  as  she  superintended  the  work  of  straw- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


berry  plantinf^  in  the  sunniest  spots  of  the  myrtle-shaded 
shore.  St.  Uonorat  had  now  been  a  long  time  without 
paying  her  a  visit.  And  as  she  paced  along  the  margin 
of  the  blue  waters,  and  gazed  towards  the  white  crests  of 
the  maritime  Alps  that  towered  far  inland,  and  marked 
the  grey  gnarled  olive  trees,  that  like  a  woodland  sea 
extended  beneath  the  nearer  heights  of  Pezou,  Grand 
Pine,  and  the  crest  on  which  Mougins  lifts  his  walls,  many 
a  time  she  grieved  that  her  brother  should  have  listened 
to  the  too  rigid  suggestions  of  an  ascetic  mind,  when  she 
had  rejoiced  in  listening  to  the  holy  counsels  and  loving 
admonitions  which  flowed  from  his  lips. 

The  winter  passed  away — the  spring  came  on — the 
mistral  came  blowing  fiercely  from  his  caverns  in  the 
Esterelles  ;  and  at  last  a  messenger  announced  to  Honorat 
that  the  season  for  strawberries  had  arrived.  Gladly  he 
passed  over  to  see  Marguerite,  and  to  pick  the  fruit.  The 
next  day  he  came  again  ;  a  week  passed,  and  still  he 
came ;  a  month  was  over,  and  still  more  strawberries. 
Three  months  passed,  and  lo !  daily  a  fresh  supply  of  rich 
fruit  was  witnessed.  Half  a  year  passed,  and  yet  the 
strawberries  came  on  without  cessation,  and  at  last 
December  saw  some  coming  freshly  in  ;  and  when 
Honorat  witnessed  spring  again  bringing  its  ripe  fruit, 
he  was  constrained  to  tell  Marguerite  that  such  a  won- 
drous plenty  of  strawberries  was  a  plain  manifestation 
that  he  was  wrong  in  coming  to  the  decision  of  only 
visiting  her  rarely,  and  that  henceforth  he  would  come 
to  see  her,  without  let  or  hindrance,  from  day  to  day. 

We  may  preserve  fellowship  with  our  Lord  Jesus  by 
cultivating  those  sweet  graces  which  he  loves.  If  we 
would  bring  forth  the  flowers  of  holiness  all  the  year 
round,  we  might  see  His  face  every  day  Are  we  as 
earnest  to  use  means  to  detain  him,  as  Marguerite  to  win 
her  brother's  company?  It  is  to  be  feared  not.  Let  us 
henceforth  be  more  anxious  to  obtain  daily,  hourly  fellow- 
ship with  our  Lord. 

CCCLXXVI.  Seeing  no  Beauty  in  Christ.  Song 
OF  Sol.  v.  9.  "  What  is  thy  beloved  more  than  another 
beloved  ?  " 

CORREGGIO  has  a  picture  of  St.   Catherine    of   Sienna's 


228  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

mystical  marriage.  This  mediaeval  saint  had  a  vision,  in 
which  she  saw  the  Saviour  approach  and  place  on  her 
hand  a  ring-,  in  which  blazed  a  diamond  of  unearthly 
purity  and  beauty,  with  which  He  espoused  her  to  Him- 
self. The  jewel  ever  burned  with  a  splendid  radiance  to 
her  eye,  though  invisible  to  all  others. 

CCCLXXVII.      Light.     Song  of  Sol.  vi.   lo.      ''Fair  as 
the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun." 

Light  has  always  been  a  favourite  symbol  of  seats  of 
learning.  "  Dominus  illuminatio  Mea  "  is  blazoned  on  the 
arms  of  Oxford.  Cambridge  writes,  "  Hunc  lucem  et 
pocula  sacra."  In  the  Song  of  Solomon,  the  lover  names 
the  beloved  "  Fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun." 

CCCLXXVIII.     An  Irish  Bishop.     Isa.  i.  25.     "/7f//// 
purely  purge  away  thy  dross,  and  take  away  all  thy  tin." 

"  Yet  Thou  my  shield  and  glory  art, 
Th'  uplifter  of  mine  head. 
I  cry'd.  and,  from  His  holy  hill, 
The  Lord  me  answer  made. 

"  I  laid  me  down  and  slept,  I  wak'd  ; 
For  God  sustained  me. 
I  will  not  fear  though  thousands  ten 
Set  round  against  me  be." 

This  was  the  text  from  which  Bishop  Bedell  preached  to 
his  fellow-prisoners  in  the  time  of  the  Irish  rebellion  in 
1642,  when  he  and  the  Protestants  of  the  district  were 
shut  up  in  hold,  and  in  danger  of  death  at  any  moment. 
He  was  one  of  the  best  bishops  who  ever  lived  in  Ireland, 
and  had  his  example  been  more  general  the  Reformation 
would  have  made  much  greater  progress  in  the  country. 
He  learned  the  Irish  language,  had  the  Bible  translated 
into  it,  was  assiduous  in  Christian  work,  and  was  filled 
with  the  spirit  of  meekness  and  self-sacrifice.  So  much 
did  he  commend  himself  that,  when  he  died  in  the  midst 
of  these  troubles,  the  Irish  did  him  uncommon  honour 
at  his  burial,  fired  a  volley  at  his  interment,  and  cried 
Requiescat  in  pace  ultiuins  Anglormn.  He  lived  from 
1570  to  1642.  He  had  a  deep  feeling  of  sin,  and  as  the 
word  Bedel  in  Hebrew  signifies  tin,  he  took  for  his  motto 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


Isa.  1*.  25,  "  I  will  purely  purge  thy  dross  and  take  away 
all  thy  (bedel)  tin." 

CCCLXXIX.  The  Last  Hour.  Isa.  ii.  ii.  '' The  lofty 
looks  of  man  shall  be  humbled,  atid  the  hajighliness  of  men 
shall  be  bowed  dozvn,  and  the  Lord  alone  shall  be  exalted  in 
that  day:' 

A  MINISTER  named  Mr.  Winstanley  was  the  means  of 
comforting  and  edifying  the  great  Dr.  Johnson  on  his 
death-bed.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Hannah  More,  alluding 
to  this,  says:  "I  cannot  conclude  without  remarking  what 
honour  God  has  hereby  put  upon  the  doctrine  of  faith  in  a 
crucified  Saviour.  The  man  whose  intellectual  powers  had 
awed  all  around  him,  was  in  his  turn  made  to  tremble 
when  the  period  arrived  at  which  all  knowledge  appears 
useless,  and  vanishes  away,  except  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  God,  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  whom  He  has  sent.  Effec- 
tually to  attain  this  knowledge,  this  giant  in  literature 
must  become  a  little  child.  The  man  looked  up  to  as  a 
prodigy  of  wisdom  must  become  a  fool  that  he  might  be 
wise." 

What  a  comment  is  this  upon  that  word  :  "The  loftiness 
of  man  shall  be  bowed  down,  and  the  haughtiness  of  men 
shall  be  made  low,  and  the  Lord  alone  shall  be  exalted  in 
that  day  " ! 

CCCLXXX.  Living  in  the  Lives  of  Others.  Isa. 
vi.  8.  "  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  ivho  will  go  for  us  ?  2hen 
said  L,  Here  am  L ;  send  me." 

Being  sick  with  the  pleurisy,  John  Woolman  was  brought 
so  near  to  the  gates  of  death  that  he  forgot  his  ov/n  name. 
"  Being  then  desirous  to  know  who  I  was,"  he  writes,  "  I 
saw  a  mass  of  matter,  of  a  dull,  gloomy  colour,  between  the 
south  and  the  east,  and  was  informed  that  this  mass  was 
human  beings  in  as  great  misery  as  they  could  be  and  live  ; 
and  that  I  was  mixed  in  with  them,  and  henceforth  might 
not  consider  myself  as  a  distinct  and  separate  being.  In 
that  state  I  heard  a  pure  and  melodious  voice,  more  soft 
and  harmonious  than  any  voice  I  had  heard  with  my  ears 
before,  and  I  believed  that  it  was  the  voice  of  an  angel 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


who  spoke  to  the  other  angels.  The  words  were,  JoJin 
Woolmaii  is  dead.  Yet,  knowing  that  I  was  alive  in  the 
body,  I  greatly  wondered  what  that  heavenly  voice  could 
mean." 

He  tells  us  then,  with  the  simplicity  and  power  of 
Bunyan,  how  the  mystery  was  opened  to  him  ;  how  that 
John  Woolman  was  to  live  only  henceforth  in  the  lives  of 
these  others — most  wretched  ones. 

The  vision  lifted  his  whole  life.  It  was  thereafter  a  per- 
petual unconscious  self-sacrifice.  Every  action  in  it,  it  is 
true,  shows  the  effect  of  his  lack  of  education  and  of  the 
ignorance  that  surrounded  him.  The  water  of  life  flowed 
through  a  narrow  pipe.     But  it  was  a  pure  rill. 

CCCLXXXI.     The    Conscience.     Isa.   viii.   20.     ''To 
the  latv  and  to  the  testimony.^ 

The  late  Dr.  Guthrie  thus  speaks  in  one  of  his  sermons  : — 
"According  to  an  Eastern  tale,  a  great  magician  presented 
his  prince  with  a  ring.  The  gift  was  of  inestimable  value, 
not  for  the  diamonds  and  rubies  and  pearls  that  gemmed 
it,  but  for  a  rare  and  mystic  property  in  the  metal.  It 
sat  easily  enough  in  ordinary  circumstances  ;  but  so  soon 
as  its  wearer  formed  a  bad  thought  or  wish,  designed  or 
committed  a  bad  action,  the  ring  became  a  monitor. 
Suddenly  contracting,  it  pressed  painfully  on  his  finger, 
warning  him  of  sin.  Such  a  ring  is  not  the  peculiar  pro- 
perty of  kings — all,  the  poorest  of  us,  those  that  wear  none 
other,  possess  and  wear  it — for  the  ring  of  the  fable  is  just 
that  conscience,  which  is  the  voice  of  God  within  us  ;  which 
is  His  law  written,  not  on  Sinai's  granite  tables,  but  on  the 
fleshy  tablets  of  the  heart ;  and  which,  enthroned  in  every 
bosom,  commends  us  when  we  do  right,  and  condemns  us 
when  we  do  wrong.  But  conscience,  as  an  expression  of 
the  law  or  will  and  mind  of  God,  is  not  now  to  be  de- 
pended on.  True  to  its  office  in  Eden,  it  was  shattered 
and  overturned  by  the  Fall ;  and  now  lies,  as  I  have  seen 
a  sun-dial  in  the  neglected  garden  of  an  old,  desolate, 
ruined  castle,  thrown  from  its  pedestal,  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  and  covered  by  tall,  rank  weeds. 

So  far  as  doctrines  and  duties  are  concerned,  not  con- 
science, but  the  Book  of  Revelation,  is  our  one  only  sure 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  23! 

and  safe  directory.  "Search  the  Scriptures,"  says  our 
Lord,  "for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life,  and  they 
are  they  which  testify  of  Mc."  "  To  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony,"  says  another,  "  if  they  speak  not  according  to 
these,  there  is  no  truth  in  them." 


CCCLXXXII.     Is  God  here?     Isa.  xi.  6.     ''And  a  Halt 
child  shall  lead  them." 

A  YOUNG  man  had  been  extremely  profane,  and  thought 
little  of  the  matter.  After  his  marriage  to  a  high-minded, 
lovely  wife,  the  habit  appeared  to  him  in  a  different  light, 
and  he  made  spasmodic  efforts  to  conquer  it.  But  not 
until  some  years  had  passed  did  he  become  victor,  when 
the  glowing  evil  was  set  before  him,  b}^  a  little  incident,  in 
its  real  and  shocking  sinfulness. 

One  Sunday  morning,  standing  before  the  mirror  shav- 
ing, the  razor  slipped,  inflicting  a  slight  wound.  True  to 
his  fixed  habit,  he  ejaculated  the  single  word  "  God  I "  and 
was  not  a  little  amazed  and  chagrined  to  see  reflected  in 
the  mirror  the  pretty  picture  of  his  little  three-year-old 
daughter,  as  laying  her  dolly  hastily  down  she  sprang  from 
her  seat  on  the  floor,  exclaiming  as  she  looked  eagerly  and 
expectantly  about  the  room,  "  Is  Dod  here  }  " 

Pale  and  ashamed,  and  at  a  loss  for  a  better  answer,  he 
simply  said  "  Why  .'*  " 

"  'Cause  I  thought  He  was  when  I  heard  you  speak  to 
Him." 

Then  noticing  the  sober  look  on  his  face  and  the  tears 
of  shame  in  his  eyes  as  he  gazed  down  into  the  innocent, 
radiant  face,  she  patted  him  lovingly  on  the  hand,  exclaim- 
ing assuringly,  "  Call  Him  again,  papa,  and  I  dess  He'll 
surely  come." 

Oh,  how  every  syllable  of  the  child's  trusting  words  cut 
to  his  heart  I  The  still,  small  voice  was  heard  at  last. 
Catching  the  wondering  child  up  in  his  arms,  he  knelt 
down,  and  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  implored  of  God  for- 
giveness for  past  offences  and  guidance  for  all  his  future 
life,  thanking  Him  in  fervent  spirit  that  he  had  not  "  surely 
come  "  before  in  answer  to  some  of  his  awful  blasphemies. 
Surely  "  a  little  child  shall  lead  them." 


232  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCLXXXIII.     Exalting  God.     Isa.  xxv.  i.    '' O  Lord, 

Thou  art  my  God :  I  will  exalt  7/ue." 

"  Dr.  BelI-AMY  made  God  big,"  said  an  old  negro  to  Dr. 
Backus,  his  successor. 

He  is  no  true  Christian  who  does  not  exalt  Christ. 
A  minister,  whose  congregation  had  long  deplored  the 
cold  and  dry  style  of  his  preaching,  found  one  Sunday 
morning,  on  entering  the  pulpit,  a  slip  of  paper  on  the 
cushion  with  the  words  in  John  xii.  21  written  on  it  :  "  Sir, 
zve  tvoiild  see  Jesus."  His  conscience  supplied  the  applica- 
tion of  the  text,  and  after  much  thought  and  self-examina- 
tion he  resolved,  with  God's  help,  to  preach  Christ  more 
clearly  ;  and  next  Sunday  he  took  for  his  text  John  xx.  20 : 
"  Then  were  the  disciples  glad  when  they  saiv  ihe  Lord!' 

CCCLXXXIV.  The  Divine  Fatherland.  Isa.  xxv.  8. 
"  He  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory ;  and  the  Lord  God 
will  wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces." 

An  American  minister  thus  speaks  in  one  of  his  sermons  : 
"  When  the  regiments  of  the  British  army  are  on  foreign 
stations  the  bands  are  forbidden  to  play  '  Sweet  Home,' 
lest  the  beautiful  tune,  with  its  touching  associations, 
should  make  the  men  saddened  and  disheartened.  But  no 
such  effect  is  produced  in  the  Christian  soul  by  singing 
to  him  of  heaven.  On  the  contrary,  it  gives  him  joy,  and 
contentment,  and  strength,  and  consolation.  For  this  pur- 
pose I  have  spoken  of  it  now  to  you.  Is  it  a  comfort .-' 
That  will  depend  on  whether  or  not  you  are  a  child  of 
God.  Hark  1  amid  the  darkness  the  clock  strikes  out, 
with  booming  sound,  the  long  midnight  hour,  and  as  it  is 
heard  by  the  watchman  on  his  weary  beat,  he  rejoices  that 
he  is  so  much  nearer  the  time  of  his  release  at  the  day 
dawn.  But  as  it  falls  on  the  ears  of  the  condemned 
criminal  in  his  cheerless  cell,  it  sends  a  shiver  through  his 
frame,  for  he  is  an  hour  nearer  his  execution  on  the  morn. 
How  is  it  with  you  and  the  ringing  out  of  the  old  year,  in 
this  regard  ?  Does  it  fill  you  with  gladness  or  with  dread  } 
Oh,  if  with  dread,  let  me  urge  you  at  once  to  break  away 
from  sin,  and  enter  into  the  family  of  God,  so  that  your 
terror  may  be  turned  into  joy.     They  tell  that  in  the  armies 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  233 

of  the  first  Napoleon,  wlien  the  ^ Ranz  dcs  vacJies'  was 
played  by  the  regimental  bands,  some  Swiss  soldiers,  under 
the  influence  of  the  old  home  tune,  were  sure  to  desert 
before  the  morning.  Child  of  God,  I  have  tried  to  move 
your  heart  by  awaking  within  you  the  associations  of  your 
divine  fatherland.  I  have  sung  to  you  the  Christian  home- 
song  ;  and  if  you  have  enlisted  into  any  army  of  sin,  or 
shame,  or  cruelty,  or  wrong,  may  the  effect  upon  you  be, 
to  cause  you  to  desert  at  once  and  hasten  back  to  your 
Father's  embrace." 


CCCLXXXV.     Our   Last    Hour.     Isa.  xxvi.  3,     ''Thou 
wilt  keep  him  i7t  perfect  peace  whose  ?ni?id  is  stayed  on  Thee." 

In  a  lecture  on  "The  Trinity:  a  Practical  Truth,"  Joseph 
Cook  speaks  thus  of  the  late  Charles  Kingsley  : — "  In  1875, 
Charles  Kingsley,  having  bidden  adieu  to  Westminster 
Abbey  and  Windsor  Castle,  lay  dying  ;  and,  with  the 
breath  of  eternity  on  his  cheeks,  the  central  thought  of 
this  modern  man  was  that  'only  in  faith  and  love  to  the 
Incarnate  God  our  Saviour  can  the  cleverest,  as  well  as 
the  simplest,  find  the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all 
understanding.'  'In  this  faith,'  says  his  wife,  'he  had 
lived  ;  and  as  he  had  lived,  so  he  died — humble,  confident, 
unbewildered.'  In  the  night  he  was  heard  murmuring  : 
'  No  more  fighting ;  no  more  fighting.'  Then  followed 
intense,  earnest  prayers,  which  were  his  habit  when  alone. 
His  warfare  was  accomplished  ;  he  had  fought  the  good 
fight  ;  and  on  one  of  his  last  nights  on  earth  his  daughter 
heard  him  exclaim:  'How  beautiful  God  is!'  The  last 
morning,  at  five  o'clock,  just  after  his  eldest  daughter  and 
his  physician,  who  had  sat  up  all  night,  had  left  him,  and 
he  thought  himself  alone,  he  was  heard,  in  a  clear  voice, 
repeating  the  words  of  the  Burial  Service  :  '  Thou  knowest, 
O  Lord,  the  secrets  of  our  hearts  ;  shut  not  Thy  merciful 
ears  to  our  prayer ;  but  spare  us,  O  Lord  most  holy,  O 
God  most  mighty,  O  holy,  merciful  Saviour,  Tiiou  most 
worthy  Judge  Eternal,  suffer  us  not,  at  our  last  hour,  from 
any  pains  of  death,  to  fall  from  Thee.'  He  turned  on  his 
side  after  this,  and  never  spoke  again." 


234  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCLXXXVI.  I  will  Remember  Thee.  Isa. 
xxvi.  8.  "  The  desire  of  oiir  soul  is  to  Thy  name,  and  to  the 
rcine^nbrance  of  Tlieer 

Dr.  Jessup,  the  Syrian  missionary,  says  that  when  his 
father,  long  a  Vice-President  of  the  American  Board  of 
Missions,  had  been  twice  paralyzed,  his  memory  gone,  and 
even  his  own  house  no  longer  recognised,  he  was  at  home 
when  he  got  into  his  church,  or  remembered  the  Missionary 
lioard,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  its  representatives,  full  of  the 
spirit  of  missions.  He  could  conduct  family  prayers  as 
well  as  ever,  and  was  perfectly  sound  in  mind  and  memory 
as  to  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  It  was  like  the  disinte- 
grated quartz  falling  away  from  the  pure  gold. 

CCCLXXXVII.      Strong   Drink.     Isa.  xxviii.  7.     ''But 

they  also  have  erred  through  wine,  and  through  strong  drink 
are  out  of  the  way." 

A  TREE  in  South  America,  called  the  Judas  Tree,  has 
beautiful  scarlet  blossoms,  but  it  has  a  deadly  opiate.  The 
insects  are  charmed  with  it.  But  under  and  all  around 
this  tree  there  are  millions  of  dead  carcases  lying. 

CCCLXXXVIII.     Erring  through   Strong   Drink. 

Isa.  xxviii.  7.    "  The  priest  and  the  prophet  have  erred  through 
strong  drink." 

Mr.  J.  W.  KiRTON,  author  of  "  Buy  your  own  Cherries," 
etc.,  tells  a  painful  story  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England — a  man  of  such  power  that  he  filled  every  seat 
and  aisle  with  a  congregation,  and  wherever  he  preached 
cleared  out  the  chapels  and  churches  for  miles  round. 
Souls  were  converted,  and  a  blessed  influence  rested  on 
the  town.  By-and-by  a  whisper  got  abroad  that  he  was 
fond  of  drink,  and  ultimately  it  proved  to  be  too  true. 
He  was  seen  staggering  in  the  streets  ;  the  bishop  instituted 
inquiries,  and  the  case  turned  out  so  bad  that  the  clergy- 
man's gown  was  taken  from  him,  and  he  was  deprived  of 
his  living.  All  restraint  seemed  then  removed.  He  wan- 
dered about  the  town,  sold  his  library,  and  spent  the  money 
in  drink  amongst  the  worst  characters  in  the  town  where 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  235 


he  had  preached  the  gospel  for  years.  His  plate  followed, 
then  his  furniture,  and  ultimately  he  marched  to  the  work- 
house and  asked  for  admission.  He  was  received,  and 
week  after  week  he  went  with  the  other  paupers  into  the 
very  church  where  he  used  to  preach.  His  friends  tof)k 
compassion  upon  him,  took  him  out  of  the  workhouse,  put 
him  into  a  cottage,  and  started  him  as  a  schoolmaster  ; 
but  he  eventually  "  broke  out  "  again,  spent  all  he  had  in 
drink,  had  another  attack  of  delirnun  tremens,  and  was 
taken,  a  hopeless  maniac,  to  the  county  lunatic  asylum. 

CCCLXXXIX.  God's  Searching.  Isa.  xxviii.  10. 
'■'■  For  precept  must  be  upon  precept,  preapt  upon  precept ;  line 
upon  line,  line  upon  line  ;  here  a  little,  and  there  a  little." 

Perpora,  the  great  Italian  music  master,  kept  one  of  his 
pupils  learning  the  same  lesson  for  three  years.  The  pupil 
began  to  murmur,  but  the  master  was  firm.  Four,  five, 
six  years  passed,  and  yet  he  was  still  at  the  same,  until  at 
last,  when  he  began  to  fear  he  might,  after  all,  be  just  at 
the  beginning,  the  great  teacher  set  him  free  with  the 
words,  "  Go,  my  son,  for  thou  hast  nothing  more  to  learn," 
and  he  found  himself  the  first  singer  of  Italy.  So  God 
keeps  teaching  us  the  same  lesson  over  and  over  again — 
our  utter  nothingness,  our  complete  helplessness,  and  our 
perfect  sinfulness. 

CCCXC.     Jargon   without    Knowledge.      Isa.  xxix. 

13.  "  This  people  draw  tiear  Me  with  their  mouth,  and 
with  their  lips  do  honour  Me,  but  have  removed  their  heart 
far  from  Me." 

Mr.  Spurgeon  says  :  "  I  heard  two  persons  on  the  Wen- 
gern  Alp  talking  by  the  hour  together  of  the  names  of 
lerns;  not  a  word  about  their  characteristics,  uses,  or  habits, 
but  a  medley  of  crack-jaw  titles,  and  nothing  more.  They 
evidently  felt  that  they  were  ventilating  their  botany,  and 
kept  each  other  in  countenance  by  alternate  volleys  of  non- 
sense. They  were  about  as  sensible  as  those  doctrinalists 
who  for  ever  talk  over  the  technicalities  of  religion,  but 
know  nothing  by  experience  of  its  spirit  and  power.  Are 
we  not  all  too  apt  to  amuse  ourselves  after  the  same 
fashion  ?     He  who  knows  mere  Linnaean  names,  but  has 


236  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

never  seen  a  flower,  is  as  reliable  in  botany,  as  he  is  in 
theology  who  can  descant  upon  supra-lapsarianism,  but 
has  never  known  the  love  of  Christ  in  his  heart. 

True  religion's  more  than  doctrine, 
Something  must  be  known  and  felt." 

CCCXCI.  Sanctify  My  Name.  Isa.  xxix.  23.  ''They 
shall  sanctijy  My  Name,  and  sanctify  the  Holy  One  of  Jacob  y 
and  shall  fear  the  God  of  Israel y 

Mr.  Baxter  says  :  "  Some  holy  Nonconformists  I  have 
known  that  would  rarely  mention  God,  but  with  their  hats 
put  off,  or  bowing  down  their  iieads,  and  it  hath  often 
affected  me  more  than  a  sermon." 

CCCXCII.      The    Fear  of   Hell   peoples   Heaven. 

Isa.  XXX.  33.     *■  For  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old.'^ 

There  is  a  legend  that  the  devil  once  put  on  a  monk's 
hood,  and  went  into  the  pulpit  and  preached  hell  and  its 
terrors.  As  he  knew  his  subject  so  well,  he  sent  all  his 
congregation  into  transports  of  terror,  ready  to  say  they 
believed  anything,  or  to  confess  or  promise  anything,  so 
that  only  they  might  escape  such  horror  and  despair. 
And  when  he  returned  from  his  mission,  his  friends  bitterly 
reproached  him,  and  said,  "What  have  you  done.?  Don't 
you  know  that  men  say,  'The  fear  of  hell  peoples  heaven'.^ 
You  have  ruined  and  undone  your  own  kingdom."  But 
he  replied,  "  Never  fear  :  I  know  what  I  am  doing.  The 
heaven  which  the  fear  of  hell  peoples  is  one  of  my  own 
devising  (for  its  roots  are  in  selfishness),  and  the  more  men 
seek  that,  the  better  for  me  !  Since  thus  shall  they  never 
know  that  love  of  God,  which  is  the  one  thing  that  utterly 
defeats  and  thwarts  me." 

CCCXCIII.     The  Covert  from  the  Tempest.     Isa. 

xxxii.  2.     ''And  a  man  shall  be  as  an  hidin^-f  lace  from  the 
wind,  and  a  covert  from  the  tempest." 

You  remember,  perhaps,  the  incident — on  the  St.  Bernard 
mountain — of  the  freezing  traveller  who  was  just  settling 
down  into  the  snow-drifts,  despairing  and  half  dead.     The 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  237 

whirling  snovv-nurrics  were  fast  weavin;^  the  white  shroud 
around  his  dying  form.  Just  as  he  is  about  sinking  into 
the  nunib  insensibihty,  he  hears  the  distant  cry  of  another 
traveller  who,  like  himself,  is  perishing  in  the  storm.  He 
rouses  up.  He  makes  a  sturdy  effort  to  reach  his  com- 
panion in  suffering— finds  him — chafes  him  — lifts  him  on 
his  feet,  and' supports  his  trembling  steps  onward  towards 
the  welcome  light  of  the  Hospice  that  now  glimmers 
tiirough  the  driving  snow.  The  effort  warms  his  own 
freezing  frame  into  life  again,  and  in  trying  to  save  another, 
he  saves  himself.  Join  hands  with  some  friend  who  is  yet 
out  of  Christ,  and  together  struggle  on  towards  the  blessed 
"  covert  from  the  tempest." 

CCCXCIV.  Beyond  the  River.  Isa.  xxxiii.  17. 
"  Thine  eyes  shall  see  the  King  in  His  beauty  :  they  shall 
behold  the  land  that  is  very  far  off.'' 

Our  Father  is  leading  us  home  :  and  the  more  rough  and 
rugged  the  road  near  its  close,  the  more  we  relish  the 
greensward  beyond  the  grave.  Could  we  look  upwards 
with  a  steadier  and  more  ardent  eye,  we  should  scarce  feel 
the  fluctuations  of  this  changeable  scene.  When  a  man 
feels  dizzy,  in  riding  through  a  torrent,  by  looking  down 
on  the  stream,  the  best  way  to  restore  his  head  to  calmness 
is  to  fix  his  eye  on  the  stationary  objects  on  the  other  side 
of  the  river. 

CCCXCV.  Begin  at  the  Beginning.  Isa.  xxxiii. 
22.  "For  the  Lord  is  oiir  Judge,  the  Lord  is  our  Lawgiver, 
the  Lord  is  our  King ;  He  will  save  us." 

Dr.  Duncan,  of  the  New  College,  Edinburgh,  in  conver- 
sation once  with  a  lady,  addressed  these  remarkable  words 
to  her  : — "  It's  a  grand  thing  to  begin  at  the  beginning, — 
to  begin  with  the  Lord  as  our  Maker,  and  to  learn  who 
and  what  He  is,  Jehovah,  I  Am  ;  and  then  to  learn  of  Him 
as  the  Lawgiver;  and  then  to  meet  Him  as  a  Judge,  and 
to  be  reconciled  to  His  holy  law, — to  hear  Him  pronounce 
the  curse  that  we  deserve,  and  to  say  Amen  to  it;  and  then 
to  lie  at  His  feet,  confessin;.;  that  hell  is  our  due,  and,  \y'\wg 
there,  to  take  at  His  own  hand,  Christ,  instead  of  hell, — 


238  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Christ  free,  instead  of  hell  deserved.  That's  just  salvation, 
and  no  way  but  that  will  do  for  you  or  me.  Try  to  get  it 
fresh  on  your  conscience  every  day,  that  hell  is  your  desert, 
and  that  you  take  Christ  instead." 


CCCXCVI.  Loyalty.  Isa.  xxxiii.  22.  ^' For  the  Lord 
is  our  Judge,  the  Lord  is  our  Lawgiver,  the  Lord  is  our  King  ; 
He  will  save  us.'" 

Three  centuries  ago  the  Spaniards  were  besieging  the 
little  town  of  St.  Quentin,  on  the  frontiers  of  France.  Its 
ramparts  were  in  ruins,  fever  and  famine  were  decimating 
its  defenders,  treason  was  gliding  among  its  terrified  popu- 
lation. One  day  the  Spaniards  shot  over  the  walls  a 
shower  of  arrows,  to  which  were  attached  little  slips  of 
parchment,  promising  the  inhabitants  that  if  they  would 
surrender,  their  lives  and  property  should  be  spared. 
Now,  the  governor  of  the  town  was  the  great  leader  of 
the  Huguenots,  Gasparci  de  Coligni.  As  his  sole  answer 
he  took  a  piece  of  parchment,  tied  it  to  a  javelin,  wrote  on 
it  the  two  words  Regent  Jiabemiis — "We  have  a  king" — 
and  hurled  it  back  into  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  There 
was  his  sole  answer  to  all  their  threats  and  all  their  seduc- 
tions. Now  that  was  true  loyalty — loyalty  in  imminent 
peril,  loyalty  ready  to  sacrifice  all.  But  who  was  that 
king  for  whom,  amidst  sword  and  flame,  amid  fever  and 
famine,  Coligni  was  defending  those  breached  and  battered 
walls.''  It  was  the  weak  and  miserable  Henry  H.  of 
France,  whose  son,  Charles  IX.,  was  afterwards  guilty  of 
the  murder  of  Coligni  and  the  infamies  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
Have  you  a  king }  Is  Christ  your  King  ?  Ah,  if  He 
be,  He  is  not  a  feeble,  corrupt,  false,  treacherous  man  like 
Coligni's  master,  but  a  King  who  loves  you,  who  died  for 
you,  who  pleads  with  you  even  now  on  the  right  hand  of 
the  Majesty  on  High.  Are  you  loyal  to  Him  as  Coligni 
was  to  the  wretched  Henry  II.?  Are  you  loyal  at  all — 
much  more,  would  you  be  loyal  to  Christ,  even  unto  death  ? 
If  so,  what  will  you  do  for  Him  t     That  is  the  test 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  239 


CCCXCVII.    Story  of  a  Jerusalem  Child.    Isa.  xl.  11 
"He  shall  gather  the  lambs  with  His  arm." 

Miss  Fletcher  tells  the  story  of  the  death  of  a  dear  little 
child  called  Naglie,  who  died  in  Jerusalem  not  long  before 
her  own  death  :  "  I  heard  the  touching  account  of  her 
death  from  her  mother,  a  young  Christian,  who  had  learned 
to  love  Jesus  in  Miss  Arnott's  School  at  Jaffa.  Naglie  was 
only  two  years  and  a  half  old  when  she  died,  but  she  was 
a  strange  child.  She  and  her  brother  loved  each  other  like 
two  doves.  Often  she  said,  '  I  do  not  want  to  stay  here ; 
I  want  to  go  to  my  dear  Jesus,'  On  Sunday  she  went  to 
church,  but  did  not  seem  well.  She  came  home  and  lay  in 
her  little  bed,  with  eyes  fixed,  but  they  were  looking  at 
Jesus.  Once  or  twice  she  said,  *  I  want  to  lie  in  my  cold 
bed,'  meaning  the  grave.  She  asked  her  father  to  sing  to 
her.  Then  she  said,  *  It  is  Jesus,  father,  my  dear  Jesus, 
who  has  come  to  take  me.'  She  looked  up  ;  she  saw  what 
v.'e  saw  not,  and  smiling,  said,  "  There,  He  is  at  the  foot  of 
my  bed  ;  He  calls  me  to  come.'  Then  all  was  over.  She 
was  but  six  hours  ill.  Naglie  ever  loved  the  pictures  best 
at  school  which  showed  tlic  dear  Jesus.  One  day  when 
her  mother  put  flowers  in  her  hair,  she  said,  '  Mother,  Jesus 
had  thorns  on  His  head,  and  not  flowers.* " 


CCCXCVIII.  "The  Lambs  in  His  Arms."  Isa. 
xl,  1 1.  "He  shall  gather  the  lambs  'with  His  arm,  and  carry 
them  in  His  bosom." 

In  a  Chinese  Christian  family  at  Amoy,  a  little  boy,  the 
youngest  of  three  children,  on  asking  his  father  to  allow 
him  to  be  baptized,  was  told  that  he  was  too  young;  that 
he  might  fall  back  if  he  made  a  profession  when  he  was 
only  a  little  boy.  To  this  he  made  the  touching  reply, 
"Jesus  has  promised  to  carry  the  lambs  in  His  arms.  I 
am  only  a  little  boy  ;  it  will  be  easier  for  Jesus  to  carry 
me,"  This  logic  of  the  heart  was  too  much  for  the  father. 
He  took  him  with  him,  and  the  dear  child  was  ere  long 
baptized.  The  whole  family,  of  which  this  child  is  the 
youngest  member — the  father,  mother,  and  three  sons — are 
all  members  of  the  Mission  Church  at  Amoy. 


240  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


CCCXCIX.  God's  Infinity.  Isa.  xl.  26.  '' Lift  up  your 
eyes  on  high,  ufid  behold  who  hath  created  these  things,  that 
brirrgeth  out  their  host  by  numbers :  Lie  calleth  them  all  by 
names  by  the  greatness  of  His  might." 

Jean  Paul  Richter  says,  "God  called  up  from  dreams 
a  man  into  the  vestibule  of  heaven,  saying,  '  Come  thou 
hither,  and  see  the  glory  of  My  house.'  And  to  the 
servants  that  stood  around  His  throne  He  said,  'Take  him 
and  undress  him  from  his  robes  of  flesh  ;  cleanse  his 
vision,  and  put  a  new  breath  into  his  nostrils  ;  arm  him 
with  wings  for  flight,  only  touch  not  with  any  change  his 
human  heart — the  heart  that  weeps  and  trembles.'  It 
was  done,  and  with  a  mighty  angel  for  his  guide,  the  man 
stood  ready  for  his  infinite  voyage  :  and  from  the  terraces 
of  heaven,  without  sound  or  farewell,  they  wheeled  away 
into  endless  space.  Then  came  eternities  of  twilight  that 
revealed  but  were  not  revealed.  To  the  right  hand  and  to 
the  left,  toward  mighty  constellations,  depth  was  swallowed 
up  in  height  insurmountable,  height  was  swallowed  up  in 
depth  unfathomable.  Suddenly,  as  thus  they  rode  from 
infinite  to  infinite  ;  suddenly,  as  they  tilted  over  abyssmal 
worlds,  a  mighty  cry  arose — that  systems  more  mysterious, 
worlds  more  billowy,  other  heights  and  other  depths  were 
nearing  at  hand.  Then  the  man  sighed,  stopped,  shud- 
dered and  wept.  His  overladen  heart  uttered  itself  in 
tears  ;  and  he  said,  '  Angel,  I  will  go  no  farther.  For  the 
spirit  of  man  aches  under  this  infinity.  Insufferable  is  the 
glory  of  God's  house.  Let  me  lie  down  in  the  grave,  that  I 
may  find  rest  from  the  persecutions  of  the  infinite;  for  end 
I  see  there  is  none.'  And  from  all  the  listening  stars  that 
shone  around  issued  one  choral  chant,  '  Even  so  it  is : 
Angel,  thou  knowest  that  it  is :  end  there  is  none  that  ever 
yet  we  heard  of  The  Angel  demanded  :  '  And  is  this  the 
sorrow  that  kills  you  .? '  But  his  voice  answered  that  he 
might  answer  himself  Then  the  Angel  threw  up  his 
glorious  hands  to  the  heaven  of  heavens,  saying,  *  End  is 
there  none  to  the  universe  of  God.  Lo  !  also  there  is  no 
beginning.'" 

Merc  mfinity  frightens  the  spirit :    it   is   only  from  the 
teachings  of  revelation   and  Christ  as  the  manifested  wis- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  241 

dom,  power,  and  love  of  God,  that  the  infinity  of  the  Divine 
Being  becomes  a  friend  and  not  a  fear  to  man. 

CCCCII.     A    Bruised    Reed.     Isa.  xlii.   3.     ''A  bruised 
reed  shall  he  not  break." 

In  one  of  his  sermons,  Mr.  William  Birch  says,  "  I  remem- 
ber some  years  ago,  while  riding  over  one  of  the  deserts  of 
northern  Africa,  meeting  with  a  company  of  Arab  travellers, 
and  dining  with  them  in  the  primitive  way  of  sitting  on 
the  sand.  After  dinner  one  of  the  men  brought  out  his 
pipes  to  play.  These  pipes  were  two  reeds,  something 
like  the  tin  whistles  on  which  boys  sometimes  play,  but 
made  of  cane.  The  man  put  the  end  of  the  reeds  in  his 
mouth  and  played  Arab  tunes  with  them,  the  music  thus 
produced  being  soft  and  tremulous.  When  he  had  finished 
playing,  he  placed  the  reeds  on  the  ground,  and  a  horse 
happening  to  tread  on  one,  it  was  injured.  I  at  once 
thought  of  the  passage  of  Scripture,  referring  to  Christ, 
which  says — 'A  bruised  reed  shall  He  not  break,'  and  I 
wondered  for  a  moment  what  this  Arab  would  do.  He 
took  up  the  reed,  and  though  it  was  bruised  he  did  not 
throw  it  away,  but  sat  down  on  the  ground,  and  for  proba- 
bly half  an  hour  tried  gently  and  patiently  to  straighten 
and  repair  it,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  use  it  again  for 
his  cheering  tunes,  as  it  was  the  only  instrument  of  music 
in  that  little  caravan." 

CCCCIII.  The  Praying  Light-Keeper.  Isa.  xlii.  10. 
"  Sifig  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song,  and  His  praise  from  the  end 
of  the  earthy  ye  that  go  doivn  to  the  sea." 

We  were  fog-bound  in  Penobscot  Bay,  and  made  harbour 
at  Eagle  Island.  Just  as  the  sun  was  setting  we  went  on 
shore,  and,  walking  toward  the  lighthouse,  were  attracted 
by  the  voice  of  some  one  in  prayer.  It  was  an  impressive 
scene.  Before  us  stretched  out  the  broad  Atlantic  ;  the 
gathering  shades  of  evening  deepened  the  solitude.  In  the 
light  above  us  was  the  keeper,  where  he  had  just  lighted 
his  lamp.  His  face  was  turned  toward  the  sea  ;  his  long 
hair  and  beard  were  whitened  with  the  snows  of  many 
winters.  His  arms  were  outstretched  and  his  voice  alone 
broke  the  silence,  as  he  besought  the  Almighty,  in    the 

R 


242  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

hollow  of  whose  hands  the  seas  are  held,  to  protect  the 
sailor,  and  to  forgive  his  sins. 

"Them  prayers  will  go  higher  than  the  light,"  said  our 
skipper,  and  all  of  us  felt  that  we  had  come  into  the  near 
presence  of  God,  on  that  lonely  island  far  at  sea. 

Who  can  measure  the  Divine  Providence  that  shines 
out  from  the  lighthouse  on  Eagle  Island,  because  of  that 
praying  lighthouse-keeper  ? 

CCCCIV.     A    Death    Song.      Isa.  xliii.  2.      "  When  thou 
passest  ihrovgh  the  waters  I  will  be  with  thee.'" 

A  COASTING  vessel  once  struck  on  the  rocks  in  a  gale  in 
the  British  Channel.  The  captain  and  crew  took  to  the 
boats  and  were  lost.  They  might  have  been  saved  had 
they  remained  on  board,  for  a  huge  wave  carried  the  vessel 
up  among  the  rocks,  where  the  ebbing  tide  left  her  high 
and  dry.  In  the  captain's  cabin  a  hymn-book  was  found 
lying  on  the  table  ;  it  was  open  at  a  particular  page,  and 
the  pencil  still  lay  in  it  which  had  marked  the  favourite 
lines  of  the  sailor  when  just  entering  the  jaws  of  death. 
While  the  hurricane  was  howling  outside,  the  captain  had 
drawn  his  pencil  beside  these  glorious  words  of  cheer : — 

"  Jesu,  lover  of  my  soul, 

Let  me  to  Thy  bosom  fly, 
While  the  billows  fiear  fne  roll, 

While  the  tempest  still  is  high. 
Hide  me,  O  my  Saviour,  hide, 

Till  the  storm  of  life  is  past ! 
Safe  into  the  haven  guide, 

O  receive  my  soul  at  last  !  " 

Blessed  death-song ! 

CCCCV.     To    Die    is    Gain.     Isa.  xliii.  2.     ''When  thou 
passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee" 

The  testimony  of  John  Rogers,  of  Bridport,  was  one  of  the 
many  beautiful  death-beds  of  which  we  have  heard.  The 
night  before  he  died  he  said,  "  I  am  going  home."  Putting 
out  his  arm,  and  beckoning  and  smiling,  he  said,  "  Coming, 
coming."  Early  next  md^'ning  he  asked  for  his  favourite 
testament,  and,  placing  it  close  lo  his  heart,  he  said,  "  I  am 
dying,   resting  on  Jesus  :  nothing  remains  but  the  death- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  243 

struggle.  Christ  is  my  all  in  all."  The  passage  was 
repeated  to  him,  "Yea,  though  I  walk  through  tlic  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil :  for  Thou  art 
with  me."  He  said,  "And  He  will  be  with  me  to  the  end." 
Then  he  gently  fell  asleep. 

CCCCVI.  Fear  Not.  Isa.  xliii.  2.  '^  When  thou  passesl 
tlirougJi  thc7vaters^  I  will  be  with  thee;  a?id  through  the  rivers, 
they  shall  tiot  overflow  thee.''^ 

Among  the  few  remains  of  Sir  John  Franklin  that  were 
found  far  up  in  the  Polar  regions,  there  was  a  leaf  of  the 
"  Student's  Manual,"  by  Dr.  John  Todd,  the  only  relic  of  a 
book.  From  the  way  in  which  the  leaf  was  turned  down, 
the  following  portion  of  a  dialogue  was  prominent:  "Are 
you  not  afraid  to  die?"  "No."  "No!  Why  does  the 
uncertainty  of  another  state  give  you  no  concern  '^ " 
"  Because  God  has  said  to  me  :  *  Fear  not.  When  thou 
passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with  thee;  and  througli 
the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee.' "  This  leaf  is 
preserved  in  the  Museum  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  among 
the  relics  of  Sir  John  Franklin. 

CCCCVII.      Sinning    against    Light.      Isa.   xliii.   8. 

"  Bring  forth  the  blind  people  that  have  ejes." 

Carlyle  quotes  out  of  the  Koran  a  story  of  the  dwellers 
by  the  Dead  Sea,  to  whom  Moses  was  sent.  They  sniffed 
and  sneered  at  Moses  ;  saw  no  comeliness  in  Moses  ;  and 
so  he  withdrew.  But  Nature  and  her  rigorous  veracities 
did  not  withdraw.  When  next  we  find  the  dwellers  by  the 
Dead  Sea,  they,  according  to  the  Koran,  are  all  changed 
into  apes.  "  By  not  using  their  souls,  they  lost  them." 
"And  now,"  continues  Carlyle,  "their  only  employment  is 
to  sit  there  and  look  out  into  the  smokiest,  dreariest,  most 
undecipherable  sort  of  universe.  Only  once  in  seven  days 
they  do  remember  that  they  once  had  souls.  Hast  thou 
never,  O  traveller!  fallen  in  with  parties  of  this  tribe.? 
Methinks  they  have  grown  somewhat  numerous  in  our 
day." 

The  old  Greek  proverb  was  that  the  avenging  deities  are 
shod  with  wool ;  but  the  wool  grows  on  the  eyelids  that 


244  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

refuse  the  light.  "  Whom  the  gods  would  destroy,  they 
first  make  mad;"  but  the  insanity  arises  from  judicial 
blindness. 

Jeremy   Taylor   says    that    whoever    sins    against    light 
kisses  the  lips  of  a  blazing  cannon. 

CCCCVIII.  Times  of  Blessing.  Isa.  xliv.  3.  ''For 
I  will  pour  water  upon  him  that  is  thirsty^  and  foods  upon  the 
dry  ground. " 

During  Mr.  Sherman's  ministry  in  Reading,  his  flock  was 
visited  by  remarkable  "  times  of  refreshing,"  which  can 
never  be  forgotten.  He  says  himself:  "  One  Whit-Sunday 
morning,  I  was  preaching  from  Isa.  xliv.  3-5,  '  For  I  will 
pour  water  upon  him  that  is  thirsty,  and  floods  upon  the 
dry  ground,'  and  as  if  to  illustrate  it,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  came  like  a  flood  over  the  parched  souls  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  all  became  sensible  that  there  was  something 
more  than  human  argument  convincing  the  judgment. 
The  congregation  was  melted  to  tears,  and  one  poor  back- 
slider, on  whom  my  hopes  had  long  rested,  unable  to 
restrain  himself,  when  I  cried  out,  '  Who  will  "  subscribe 
with  his  hand  to  the  Lord "  to-day  ? '  cried  out,  '  I  will.' 
The  congregation  caught  the  infection,  and  hands  seemed 
involuntarily  stretched  out,  as  if  ready  to  sign  their  names. 
It  pleased  God  to  move  eighty-one  souls,  most  of  them 
young,  to  devote  themselves  to  His  service  that  day." 

CCCCIX.     Sin    Blotted    Out.     Isa.  xliv.   22.     '' I  have 
blotted  out,  as  a  thick  cloud,  thy  transgressions." 

An  illustration  which  effectively  shows  the  "  blotting  out  " 
of  sin,  is  that  of  Charlotte  Elizabeth's  Happy  Mute,  "  who 
dreamed  that  he  died  and  stood  before  the  judgment-seat, 
and  the  books  were  opened."  And  when  he  saw  beneath 
his  name  a  long,  dark  catalogue  of  sins,  he  was  ready  to 
sink  with  terror.  But  Jesus  cast  on  him  a  gracious  look, 
and  saying  with  unspeakable  tenderness,  "John!"  lifted 
the  pierced  hand  from  which  oozed  drops  of  blood,  and 
passed  it  over  the  black  record.  John's  sins  were  all 
"  blotted  out,"  and  there  was  only  now  the  mark  of  the 
blood. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  245 

CCCCX.     Need   of  a    Saviour.     Isa.   xlv.   21,  22.     ''A 
just  God  and  a  Saviour ;  there  is  none  beside  Me.     Look  unto 
Me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Aubrey  De  Vere,  Sir  VV.  R.  Hamilton 
says  :  "  Without  any  appreciable  or  expressible  change  in 
my  religious  views,  I  feel  that  there  has  been  for  some  time 
back  a  decided  improvement  in  my  religious  habits,  tastes, 
and  feelings  :  the  sum  and  substance  of  which  seems  to  be, 
that  I  feel  more  than  before  my  Jieed  of  a  Saviour,  of  The 
Saviour." 

CCCCXI.  Not  till  they  are  Rooted.  Isa.  xlviii.  10. 
'^Behold,  I  have  refined  thee,  but  not  with  silver;  I  have  chosen 
thee  in  the  furnace  of  affliction." 

I  WENT  into  the  kitchen  the  other  day  with  a  bit  of  black 
velvet  in  my  hand  and  a  whole  pall  of  black  in  my  heart. 

All  the  morning  I  had  been  brooding,  brooding  over  my 
loneliness,  shutting  out  all  the  light,  and  looking  only  at 
the  darkness.  A  year  before,  I  had  lost  my  precious  baby; 
and  though  God  had  blessed  me  in  a  thousand  ways,  had 
surrounded  me  with  love  and  comfort,  the  withdrawal  of 
this  special  joy  had  blighted  everything. 

All  the  year  I  had  tried  with  varying  success  to  lift  my- 
self to  such  a  state  of  trust  that  I  could  joyfully  think  of 
my  darling  as  far  more  tenderly  cared  for  than  he  could  be 
with  me — far  more  safe  than  in  this  world  of  temptation. 
There  had  been  many  hours,  many  of  them,  when  I  attained 
at  least  calmness  ;  but  on  the  morning  on  which  I  speak, 
the  whole  sky  was  black,  with  not  even  a  star  to  call  my 
look  upward. 

I  stood  at  the  ironing-table,  renewing  my  velvet,  when 
one  of  the  girls  began  taking  in  some  sickly-looking  plants 
that  she  was  trying  to  cultivate  in  pots. 

"  I  take  them  in  every  day,"  she  said,  "  when  the  sun 
gets  up." 

"  An'  sure,  isn't  the  sun  good  for  them  ?  "  said  the  other 
girl. 

"  Not  till  they  get  rooted,"  was  the  reply,  in  a  tone  of 
surprise  at  the  ignorance  displa}ed  by  the  question. 

"  Not  till  they  get  rooted,"  said  I  over  and  over  to  my- 


246  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

self,  as  I  went  upstairs.  That  sentence  answers  all  my 
questions.  God  is  too  good  and  wise  to  give  us  sunshine 
in  too  great  measure  till  we  get  rooted — He  knows  that  we 
should  soon  wither  and  die.  So  He  sets  us  where  the  light 
is  shaded  to  our  need  ;  He  gives  our  root  the  moisture  of 
tears,  and  when  we  grow  strong  through  reaching  after  the 
Divine,  little  by  little  He  gives  us  more  sun. 

"  Not  till  they  get  rooted." 

Well,  I  knew  that  before  my  baby  died  I  had  given  the 
world  far  too  much  of  my  heart.  I  had  been  swayed  hither 
and  thither  by  those  who  were  not  my  rightful  guides.  I 
had  been  content  with  low  standards  and  frivolous  pursuits. 
I  had  been  far  from  a  healthy,  genuine  growth.  Evidently 
the  sun  had  withered,  instead  of  strengthening  me.  I  was 
not  rooted. 

To  be  rooted  is  the  first  essential  of  a  healthy  growth. 
Till  the  root  has  firm  hold  of  the  soil,  till  it  is  able  to 
choose  and  absorb  that  which  it  needs  from  all  surround- 
ing elements,  the  life  cannot  increase — there  can  be  neither 
flower  nor  fruit.  The  soul  cannot  safely  bear  much  sun- 
shine till  it  is  rooted  in  God.  Till  then  it  must  have 
shadow,  or  be  wasted  and  sickly.  Let  me  then  lift  up  my 
thought  constantly  to  the  Divine  realm,  the  summer  land 
of  the  soul,  for  help  and  guidance.  Let  me  make  God  my 
own,  and  then  all  that  He  possesses  will  be  mine  also.  Let 
me  through  obedience  enter  into  love,  so  shall  I  find  all 
that  I  have  lost. 

CCCCXII.     The   Furnace  of  Affliction.     Isa.  xlviii. 
lo.     '■'■  I  have  chosen  thee  in  the  furnace  of  affliction.^' 

The  late  Professor  George  Wilson  thus  quaintly  expresses 
the  various  effects  of  affliction  in  a  letter  to  his  friend, 
Daniel  Macmillan  :  "The  furnace  of  affliction  puffs  away 
some  men  in  black  smoke,  and  hardens  others  into  useless 
slags,  and  melts  a  {q.\v  into  clear  glass.  May  it  refine  us 
into  gold  seven  times  purified,  ready  to  be  fashioned  into 
vessels  for  the  Master's  use."  And  like  the  effect  of  afflic- 
tion is  that  of  the  habitual  prospect  of  death.  In  a  letter 
to  the  same  friend,  in  1848,  he  says,  "I  have  been  reading 
lately,  with  great  sadness,  the  Memorials  of  Charles  Lamb, 
and  the  Life  of  Keats.     There  is  something  in  the  noble 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  247 

brotherly  love  of  Charles  to  brighten,  and  hallow,  and 
relieve  the  former  ;  but  Keats's  death-bed  is  the  blackness 
of  midnight,  unmitigated  by  one  ray  of  light.  God  keep 
you  and  me  from  such  a  death-bed  !  VVe  may  have 
physical  agonies  as  great  to  endure.  It  is  the  common 
lot.  I  feel  that  our  heavenly  Father  can  better  choose  for 
us  than  we  can  for  ourselves,  of  what  we  should  die  ;  but  I 
pray  our  blessed  Lord  and  Master  to  be  with  us  in  our  last 
fight  with  the  last  enemy,  and  to  give  us  the  victory.  If 
He  does,  what  shall  pain  be  but  like  other  bitter  medicines, 
the  preparative  for  the  unbroken  health  of  an  endless  life.-*" 

CCCCXIII.     "Time  Enough."    Isa.  xlviii.  18.    '' O  that 
thou  hadst  hearkened  to  My  command/nents" 

A  YOUNG  man,  about  eighteen,  was  anxious  about  his 
soul.  He  had  strong  convictions  of  sin,  and  of  the  danger 
of  his  lost  condition.  The  word  of  God  had  reached  his 
conscience,  and  he  was  persuaded  that  he  must  repent  and 
seek  the  Lord,  or  he  could  not  be  saved.  The  Spirit  of 
God  was  striving  with  him,  but  he  would  not  yield ;  there 
was  "time  enough," — it  was  not  a  convenient  season.  He 
was  taking  a  new  situation  where  there  were  many  ungodly 
men,  and  he  dare  not  confess  Christ,  so  he  purposed  to 
wait  awhile,  and  say  nothing  about  religion  until  the  way 
was  easier.  From  that  time  he  fell  back  ;  he  gave  it  all 
up  ;  he  became  as  careless  and  unconcerned  as  ever  ;  he 
forsook  the  house  of  God,  and  went  right  back  to  the 
world. 

But  the  Lord  was  merciful  to  him,  and  did  not  leave 
him  without  fresh  calls.  About  the  age  of  five-and-thirty 
he  had  again  many  serious  impressions.  He  began  to 
inquire  and  to  pray,  and  seemed  on  the  very  threshold  of 
the  kingdom.  He  truly  wished  to  become  a  Christian  and 
follow  Christ  the  rest  of  his  life,  but  the  old  temptation 
came  back  in  a  new  form.  He  had  reached  the  prime  of 
life,  but  he  was  again  led  to  delay  further.  He  was  now 
taking  a  business  for  himself,  and  he  was  assured  that  it 
could  not  be  carried  on  without  Sunday  trading ;  the 
customers  would  be  supplied  on  that  day,  or  go  else- 
where. 

Unhappily  he  yielded  to  the  snare.     He  made  up  his 


248  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

mind  to  turn  to  God,  but  not  now.  A  few  months  or 
years  could  not  make  much  difference,  he  thought ;  so  he 
again  put  off  the  matter.  He  could  not  decide  yet — it  was 
too  great  a  sacrifice  to  give  up  all  for  Christ.  Alas,  again 
he  quenched  and  grieved  the  Spirit,  and  became  hardened 
in  his  unbelief  and  sin  !  Business  prospered  with  him,  and 
he  was  content  to  live  without  God.  Many  years  passed 
by,  and  he  thought  nothing  of  the  great  eternity  to  which 
he  was  fast  hastening. 

By-and-by  old  age  crept  on  him,  and  his  latter  end  was 
rapidly  approaching.  At  the  age  of  seventy-two  he  was 
brought  low  and  compelled  to  look  death  in  the  face  ;  but 
now  the  hope  of  peace  and  salvation  seemed  very  far  off. 
There  was  nothing  but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment  and  fiery  indignation.  A  faithful  minister  of 
Christ  visited  him  from  time  to  time,  but  the  word  of 
promise  and  pardon  seemed  to  find  no  entrance.  To  the 
very  last  the  servant  of  the  Lord  was  by  his  side,  hoping 
against  hope,  telling  him  that  Christ  was  able  to  save  to 
the  uttermost,  and  reminding  him  of  the  dying  thief,  and 
urging  him  to  accept  mercy  ;  but  there  was  no  response. 
There  seemed  a  barrier  in  the  way  :  darkness  and  despair 
shut  out  the  view  of  the  merciful  and  long-suffering 
Saviour.  At  last  he  raised  himself  in  the  bed,  and  three 
times  raising  up  his  hands  he  exclaimed,  "  I'm  lost !  I'm 
lost !  Tm  lost !  "  So  saying,  he  fell  back  on  his  pillow  and 
expired.  Such  an  end  tells  its  own  tale.  Such  was  the  issue 
of  all  the  man's  purposes  and  resolutions ;  such  was  the 
result  of  delay  in  deciding  for  Christ. 

CCCCXIV.  The  Infidel  and  the  Missionary. 
ISA.  xlviii.  22.  "  There  is  no  peace ^  saith  the  Lord,  unto  the 
wicked.** 

A  MISSIONARY  party  shipped  for  Suez  in  a  vessel  whose 
captain  was  a  notorious  infidel,  blasphemer,  and  drunkard. 
"  If  you  can  convert  that  captain,"  those  who  knew  him 
said,  "  we  will  believe."  The  captain  himself  rubbed  his 
hands  in  glee  at  the  prospect  of  putting  down  the  mis- 
soniaries.  All  approaches  to  him  were  met  by  blasphemy 
and  infidel  argument.  "  Had  he  read  the  Bible  .-*  "  "Yes, 
knew  it  through  and  through,  and  it  was  all  bosh  !  "    Afte? 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  249 

a  fruitless  interview  of  two  hours,  Mr.  Stucld  remarl-ccd  as 
a  close  to  the  conversation  :  "  Well,  all  I  have  to  sa\'  is,  I 
have  a  peace  which  the  world  cannot  give."  The  man 
seemed  struck  by  the  remark,  grew  serious,  and  said  :  "  We 
are  all  seeking  that,  but  we  never  find  it."  "  You  can  have 
it  by  simple  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  was  the  reply. 
The  captain  then  opened  his  heart,  and  revealed  its  secret 
of  unrest.  After  separating  from  the  young  missionary, 
he  went  down  and  shut  himself  in  his  cabin.  The  next 
that  was  seen  of  him  was  his  writing  a  letter  home,  asking 
forgiveness  for  having  left  his  family  rudely  and  without  a 
word.  He  gave  his  heart  to  Christ,  and  became  completely 
changed,  and  all  the  crew  marvelled  greatly. 


CCCCXV.     What    shall    we   give    to    Jesus?     Isa. 

xlix.  16.     '■'■His  arm  brought  salvatmi^^ 

A  LITTLE  girl  named  Mary  Ann  Day,  a  native  of  Ulceby, 
in  Lincolnshire,  fell  from  the  Magna  Charta  steamer  into 
New  Holland  harbour.  A  brave  man  named  John  Eller- 
thorpe,  "  sprang  in  after  her  and  brought  her  ashore,  though 
at  a  great  risk  of  his  own  life.  The  noise  of  the  paddle 
wheels,  the  screams  of  the  child's  mother,  and  the  con- 
fusion and  shouts  of  the  passengers,  made  it  a  very  exciting 
scene,  but  it  was  soon  over,  and  the  little  girl  having  got 
some  dry  clothes  on,  her  mother  brought  her  to  John,  and 
said  to  her,  '  Now,  what  will  you  give  this  gentleman  for 
saving  your  life?'  when  she  held  out  her  little  chin,  and 
with  a  full  heart  said, '/^  kiss!  John  Ellerthorpe,  in  telling 
the  tale,  said,  *I  felt  myself  well  paid  for  the  trouble,  and 
had  a  greater  sense  of  delight  and  higher  satisfaction  when 
that  grateful  child  kissed  me,  than  I  did  when  my  fellow- 
townsmen  presented  me  with  one  hundred  and  thirty 
guineas.' " 

Believing  reader,  you  and  I  were  originally  passengers 
on  board  the  ship  Innocence,  and,  falling  overboard  through 
sin,  were  in  danger  of  being  drowned  in  the  deep  of  Divine 
wrath  ;  but  at  the  moment  when  all  refuge  failed,  and  no 
eye  pitied,  and  no  arm  was  outstretched  to  save,  "  God 
laid  help  upon  one  that  was  mighty,"  and  the  Lord  of  life 
and  glory  Himself  became  our  deliverer. 


250  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

"With  pitying  eyes  the  Prince  of  peace 
Beheld  our  helpless  grief; 
He  saw,  and  oh  !  amazing  love, 
He  sprang  to  our  relief." 

"Emptying  Himself"  of  His  former  glory,  and  with  the 
cry  "  Lo,  I  come  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God,"  He  plunged 
into  the  dark  and  dreadful  waters  of  death,  determining  to 
rescue  the  unworthy  object  of  His  wonderful  compassion, 
not  at  the  mere  risk  of  losing  His  life,  but  in  the  certain 
knowledge  that  it  must  be  sacrificed.  Then  was  He  heard 
to  say,  "  Deep  calleth  unto  deep  at  the  noise  of  Thy 
waterspouts :  all  Thy  waves  and  Thy  billows  are  gone  over 
Me." 

But  in  dying  He  overcame  death.  In  sacrificing  Him- 
self He  saved  us — and  to  the  deep  and  infinite  joy  of  His 
Father  and  ours,  and  amid  the  acclamations  of  angels, 
"  He  drew  us  out  of  many  (great)  waters."  "  He  delivered 
us  because  He  delighted  in  us." 

"  Oh,  for  this  love  let  rocks  and  hills 
Their  lasting  silence  break, 
And  all  harmonious  human  tongues 
The  Saviour's  praises  speak." 

But  what  shall  we  give  to  Him  who  "  saved  us  "  at  such 
a  cost  ? 

The  little  girl  gave  her  deliverer  a  kiss — doubtless,  it  was 
the  best  way  in  which  she  could  express  her  thankfulness  ; 
what  shall  we  give  "  Jesus  who  delivered  us  from  the  wrath 
to  come  .''  "  Have  we  "  no  kiss  "  that  He  will  accept  and 
count  precious — no  kiss  oi  gratitude  f 


CCCCXVI.  The  Liberty  of  the  Captives  of  Sin. 
IsA.  xlix.  24.  "  Shall  the  prey  be  taken  from  the  ?inghty,  or 
the  lawful  captive  delivered  i  " 

John  Elias  was  one  of  Wales'  greatest  preachers.  On 
one  occasion  the  text  was  Isaiah  xlix.  24  :  "Shall  the  prey 
be  taken  from  the  mighty,  or  the  lawful  captive  delivered  .''  " 
"  Satan,"  exclaimed  he  in  a  very  peculiar  manner,  "  what 
do  you  say,  *  Shall  the  prey  be  taken  from  the  mighty.?'" 
""No,  never,  never;  I  will  increase  the  darkness  of  their 
minds,  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,  the  lusts  of  their  souls, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  251 

the  strength  of  their  chains  ;  and  my  liolds  shall  be  made 
stronger.  The  captives  sliall  never  be  delivered.  I  utterly 
despise  the  puny  efforts  of  ministers." 

"  Gabriel,  messenger  of  the  Most  High  God,"  exclaimed 
the  preacher  in  a  different  tone,  looking  upwards,  "'Shall 
the  prey  be  taken  from  the  mighty  ? '  what  dost  thou 
say?"  "Ah!  I  apprehend  not:  I  have  been  hovering 
these  two  days  over  this  vast  assembly  hearing  the  word 
of  God,  expecting  to  see  some  chains  broken,  some  prisoners 
liberated  ;  but  now  the  opportunity  is  near  over,  and  the 
multitudes  are  on  the  point  of  separating.  Ah  !  there  is 
no  sign  of  one  being  converted,  and  I  shall  not  have  to 
convey  the  glad  tidings  of  one  sinner  repenting  of  his  sins 
to  the  heavenly  world." 

Then  turning  to  the  preachers  he  asked,  "  What  think 
you,  ministers  of  the  living  God,  'Shall  the  prey  be  taken 
from  the  mighty  .-' '  "  "  '  Alas,  who  hath  believed  our  report, 
and  to  whom  is  the  arm  of  the  Lord  revealed  .'''  '  We 
have  laboured  in  vain,  and  spent  our  strength  for  nought.' 
The  Lord  seemeth  to  hide  His  face  from  us  ;  His  arm  is 
not  stretched  out.  Oh  I  we  fear  there  is  but  little  hope  ot 
the  captives  being  liberated." 

"  Zion,  *  Shall  the  prey  be  taken  from  the  mighty  } ' 
What  do  you  say  ?  "  "  '  Ah,  the  Lord  hath  forsaken  me, 
and  my  Lord  hath  forgotten  me.'  I  am  left  alone,  and 
am  childless  ;  so  that  my  enemies  say,  '  This  is  Zion,  whom 
no  man  seeketh  after.'  Oh,  I  am  afraid  none  shall  be 
delivered." 

"  Praying  Christians,  what  do  you  think,  '  Shall  the  prey 
be  taken  from  the  mighty?'  'Lord  God,  Thoii  knowest  : 
high  is  Thy  hand,  and  strong  is  Thy  right  hand.'  O  that 
Thou  wouldst  put  forth  Thy  strength  and  overcome  1  Let 
the  sighing  of  the  prisoners  come  before  Thee  :  according 
to  the  greatness  of  Thy  power  preserve  Thou  those  that 
are  appointed  to  die.  Though  I  am  nearly  weary  in  crying, 
yet  I  have  a  slender  hope  that  the  year  of  jubilee  is  at 
hand." 

Then  looking  up  seriously,  as  if  about  to  speak  to  the 
Almighty,  he  asked,  "And  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Lord 
respecting  these  captives  }  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  even 
the  captives  of  the  mighty  shall  be  taken  away,  and  the 
prey  of  the   terrible   shall   be   delivered.'      O  delightful ! 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 


there  is  now  no  doubt  or  hesitation  respecting  the  hberty 
of  the  captives :  it  is  positively  declared  they  shaU  be 
dehvered,  they  shall  be  saved.  Yes,  '  the  ransomed  of  the 
Lord  shall  return,  and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  ever- 
lasting joy  upon  their  heads,'  " 

CCCCXVII.     A  Chain  of  Precious  Books.  Isa.  1.  4. 

"  Tlie  Lord  God  hath  gii'en  me  the  tongue  of  the  learned,  that 
I  should  linow  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to  him   that  is 

7aeary." 

Years  ago  an  old  Puritan  doctor,  Sibbes,  wrote  a  book 
called  the  "  Bruised  Reed,"  which  fell  just  at  the  right  time 
into  the  hands  of  Richard  Baxter,  and  brought  him  under 
the  influence  of  the  enlightening  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ; 
and  then  Baxter's  ministry  was  like  the  sun  in  his  strength, 
and  he  wrote  a  book  called  "The  Call  to  the  Unconverted," 
which  continued  to  speak  long  after  Baxter  himself  had 
ceased  to  speak  with  human  tongue.  That  "  Call  to  the 
Unconverted "  went  preaching  on  until  it  got  into  the 
hands  of  Philip  Doddridge  (prepared  by  his  pious  mother's 
teaching  from  the  Dutch  tiles  of  a  mantel-piece  with  very 
quaint  Scriptural  stories),  and  it  was  the  means  of  enlight- 
ening him  to  a  broader  knowledge,  and  a  richer  faith,  and 
a  deeper  experience  of  the  things  of  God. 

And  then  Doddridge  wrote  a  book  called  "  The  Rise 
and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul,"  which,  just  at  a 
critical  period  in  his  history,  fell  into  the  hands  of  William 
Wilberforce,  who  wrote  a  book  called  "  Practical  Chris- 
tianity," which,  far  down  in  the  sunny  Isle  of  Wight,  fired 
the  heart  of  a  clergyman,  who  has  attained,  perhaps,  in 
connection  with  the  Tract  Society,  the  broadest  and  widest 
reputation  of  all — for  who  has  not  heard  of  Legh  Rich- 
mond .''  He  wrote  the  simple  annal  of  a  Methodist  girl, 
and  published  it  under  the  title  of  "  The  Dairyman's 
Daughter  ; "  and  I  should  like  to  know  into  how  many 
languages  that  has  been  translated,  and  been  made  of  God 
a  power  for  the  spread  of  truth. 

The  same  book  on  "  Practical  Christianity  "  went  right 
'down  into  a  secluded  parish  in  Scotland,  and  it  found  there 
a  young  clergyman  who  was  preaching  a  Gospel  that  he 
did  not  know,  and    it  instructed  him  in  the  way  of  God 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  253 

more  perfectly,  and  he  came  forth  a  champion  vah'ant  for 
the  truth  upon  the  earth  until  all  Scotland  ranc,^  with  the 
eloquence  of  Thomas  Chalmers.  Look  at  it.  Not  a  flaw 
in  the  chain.  Richard  Sibbes,  Richard  Baxter,  Philip 
Doddridt^e,  William  Wilberforce,  Legh  Richmond,  Thomas 
Chalmers. 

CCCCXVIII.  Blocking  up  the  Broad  Way. 
ISA.  lii.  7.  '''■  IIoiv  bcaiiiiftd  upon  i/ie  vwniitains  are  the  feet  0/ 
him  that  hringetli  good  tidings^  tliat  puhlishetli.  peaceP 

One  of  the  most  eminent  of  Methodist  lay  preachers  was 
William  Dawson.  His  personal  piety  was  deep  and  un- 
affected, and  his  gifts  of  address  were  marvellous. 

Set  free  from  secular  labour  towards  the  close  of  his  life, 
to  give  one-half  of  each  year  to  the  advocacy  of  the  mission 
cause,  Dawson  had  from  the  first  showed  an  extraordinary 
power  of  moving  men's  sympathy  for  the  cause  of  missions, 
and  of  unbuttoning  their  pockets.  He  would  roll  up  the 
slip  of  paper  on  which  a  notice  or  a  resolution  had  been 
written,  and  using  it  as  a  telescope,  describe  what  he  saw. 
And  just  before  sitting  down,  he  would  once  more  apply 
his  telescope  to  his  eye,  and  say,  "  I  see  a  good  collection." 
And  a  good  collection  there  would  be. 

Little  did  deputies  sent  from  some  place  where  he  was 
less  known,  conceive  the  power  of  the  man  they  found 
hedging  and  ditching  with  his  own  hands,  and  who  accom- 
panied them  as  soon  as  he  had  time  to  change  his  working 
clothes  for  a  suit  of  decent  .black.  On  one  occasion  he 
described  the  aim  of  missions  to  be,  "  to  block  up  the 
broad  way,  to  cover  it  with  verdure,  to  prevent  even  the 
keen  eye  of  the  recording  angel  from  seeing  so  much  as 
the  print  of  a  human  foot  upon  it." 

Dawson  died,  after  a  lifetime  of  as  constant  labour  as 
probably  any  man  ever  lived,  in  the  town  of  Leeds,  in  1841  ; 
and  a  great  multitude  followed  his  mortal  remains  to  the 
grave. 

CCCCXIX.     Newton   and  Jay.     Isa.  lii.  10.     '' All  the 

ends  of  the  earth  shall  see  the  salvation  of  our  God^ 

A  FEW  years  since,  Mr.  Jay  was  invited  to  preach  before 
the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  in   London,  with   several 


254  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

of  the  founders  of  which  he  was  well  acquainted.  The 
sermon  was  a  fine  illustration  of  piety  and  of  fraternal  love. 
He  beautifully  sketched  the  origin  of  the  missionary  spirit, 
and  the  difficulties  it  had  to  encounter.  He  stated  that  he 
himself,  then  a  comparative  youth,  had  some  doubts  as  to 
whether  the  time  was  come  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
earth,  and  at  length  he  determined  to  call  and  converse 
on  the  subject  with  the  venerable  John  Newton.  The 
aged  apostolic  clergyman  received  his  younger  brother 
with  ardent  affection,  and  requested  him  to  detail  the 
peculiar  difficulties  which  oppressed  his  mind.  Mr.  Jay 
did  this  at  considerable  length,  especially  insisting  on  the 
manifold  obstacles  which  idolatry  and  human  depravity,  in 
all  their  various  forms,  presented  to  the  extension  of  the 
gospel.  When  he  had  ceased,  the  venerable  clergyman 
slowly  laid  down  his  pipe,  gathered  up  his  form  to  an  erect 
posture,  and  looking  his  junior  brother  full  in  the  face,  said, 
in  a  most  emphatic  tone,  "  My  brother,  I  have  never 
doubted  the  power  of  God  to  convert  the  heathen  world 
since  he  converted  me!"  "Never  from  that  period,"  said 
the  preacher,  "  have  I  had  a  doubt  on  the  subject.  Facts, 
too,  have  proved  the  fulfilment  of  Divine  prophecies,  and 
have  gone  so  far  to  accomplish  the  Divine  oath." 

CCCCXX.      Three    Links.      Isa.  liii.  i.      "  Who    hath 

believed  our  report  ?  " 

William  Carter  in  a  sermon  to  the  outcasts  of  London, 
said  :  "  Hear  what  Jesus  declares  :  *  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  you,  he  that  heareth  My  word,  and  believeth  on  Him 
that  sent  me,  hath  everlasting  life,  and  shall  not  come  into 
condemnation,  but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life.'  Here, 
my  friends,  there  are  three  links  in  the  blessed  chain  of  truth 
— hearing,  believing,  and  having.  The  devil  always  tries  to 
cut  these  links  off,  and  give  three  links  of  his  own  forging, 
viz.  doing,  praying,  feeling." 

This  item  was  copied  into  a  religious  weekly  newspaper 
in  this  country,  and  was  there  read  by  a  gentleman,  when 
after  three  weeks  of  waiting  for  the  feeling  of  a  change  in 
his  heart,  he  had  given  up  all  hope,  and  concluded  that 
there  was  no  salvation  for  him.  God's  way  of  salvation  at 
once  seemed  plain,  and  the  gentleman  was  soon  a  happy 
Christian. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  255 

CCCCXXI.     Belief  in  the  Atonement.      Isa.  liii.  6. 
"  llie  Lord  hath  laid  on  Iliin  the  inujuitv  of  us  al/." 

Dora  Grkenwell  beautifully  says,  "Belief  in  that  one 
g[reat  doctrine  of  the  Atonement  is  to  me  like  the  blue 
flower  of  the  German  legends  ;  long  sought  and  hidden,  but 
when  found,  admitting  into  every  guarded  treasure,  which, 
without  the  possession  of  it,  would  have  been  closed  up." 

CCCCXXII.  Attempting  Great  Things  for  God. 
Isa.  liv.  2,  3.  "  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  te?it,  and  let  them 
stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  thy  habitations  :  spa?-e  not,  lengthen 
thy  cords,  and  strengthen  thy  stakes." 

On  the  30th  of  May,  1792,  William  Carey,  the  future  mis- 
sionary, was  appointed  to  preach  at  an  Association  in 
Nottingham.  His  sermon  on  this  occasion  has  become 
historical.  The  building  in  which  it  was  preached  is  still 
in  existence,  though  diverted  to  quite  a  different  purpose. 
The  text  on  which  the  discourse  was  founded  was  Isaiah 
liv.  2,  3  :  "  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  and  let  them 
stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  thine  habitations  :  spare  not, 
lengthen  thy  cords,  and  strengthen  thy  stakes  ;  for  thou 
shalt  break  forth  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left;  and 
thy  seed  shall  inherit  the  Gentiles,  and  make  the  desolate 
cities  to  be  inhabited."  The  preacher  observed  that  the 
Church  is  here  addressed  as  a  desolate  widow,  dwelling  in 
a  small  tent  by  herself ;  that  the  command  to  enlarge  her 
tent  implied  that  there  should  be  an  enlargement  of  her 
family  ;  that  to  account  for  so  unexpected  and  marvellous 
a  change,  she  was  told,  "Thy  Maker  is  thy  Husband,"  and 
that  at  a  future  day  He  would  be  called  "  the  God  of  the 
whole  earth."  He  then  proceeded  to  establish  and  illus- 
trate the  two  great  principles  involved  in  the  text,  and  that 
have  since  become  "  household  words "  throughout  the 
Christian  world  in  reference  to  the  missionary  enterprise — 
I.  Expect  great  tilings  from  God;  H.  Attempt  great  things 
for  God.  In  this  sermon  the  thought  and  feeling  of  years 
were  concentrated.  The  effect  which  it  produced  was 
electrical.  Dr.  Ryland,  who  was  present,  said,  "  If  all  the 
people  had  lifted  up  their  voices  and  wept,  as  the  cliildren 
of  Israel  did  at  Bochim,  I  should  not  have  wondered  at  the 


256  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

effect  :  it  would  only  have  seemed  proportionate  to  the 
cause ;  so  clearly  did  he  prove  the  criminality  of  our 
supineness  in  the  cause  of  God." 

CCCCXXIII.     Comforted  of  God.     Isa.  liv.  5.     ''Thy 

Maker  is  thine  HjisbandT 

An  eminent  ph\-sician,  who,  in  visiting  the  sick,  sought  to 
administer  to  the  soul  as  well  as  to  the  bod)\  one  day 
called  upon  a  poor  widow,  whom,  on  a  previous  visit,  he  had 
found  in  great  darkness  of  mind.  She  was  now  in  a  happy 
frame,  and,  on  asking  her  what  had  been  the  means  of  her 
comfort,  she  said  it  had  been  these  words  in  Isaiah  liv.  5 
— "  Thy  Maker  is  thine  Husband  ;  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  His 
Name."  On  asking  her  what  she  had  felt  in  these  words 
to  cheer  her,  her  answer  was  :  "  I've  been  thinking  that 
if  that  be  true,  I  should  be  beginning  to  live  up  to  His 
income." 

CCCCXXIV.  A  Bitter  Cup.  Isa.  liv.  11.  "(9  thou 
afflicted,  tossed  with  tempest  afid  not  coinfo?-ted,  behold,  I  will 
lay  thy  stones  with  fair  colours,  and  lay  thy  foundations  with 
sapphires" 

It  is  delightful  to  sit  down  beside  a  child  of  God  who  has 
in  his  hand  a  bitter  cup  of  trial.  Jesus  has  turned  the 
bitterness  into  such  a  blessing  that  he  "  tastes  the  love  "  of 
Jesus  in  every  drop. 

I  love  to  hear  old  Richard  Baxter  exclaim,  after  a  life  of 
constant  suffering,  "  O  my  God  !  I  thank  Thee  for  a  bodily 
discipline  of  eight-and-fifty  years." 

I  love  to  sit  down  by  Harlan  Page  and  hear  him  say, 
"  A  bed  of  pain  is  a  precious  place,  when  we  have  the 
presence  of  Christ.  God  does  not  send  one  unnecessary 
affliction.  Lord  !  I  thank  Thee  for  suffering.  I  deserve  it. 
1  deserve  death  eternal.  Let  me  not  complain  nor  dictate. 
I  commit  myself  to  Thee,  O  Saviour,  and  to  Thy  infinite 
love.  I  stop  my  mouth,  and  lie  low  beside  Thee  !  "  So 
God  built  up  that  blood-built  soul  faster  than  disease  was 
pulling  down  the  frail  tenement  in  which  it  dwelt.  And 
through  the  rents  heaven's  glory  shone  in  with  rapturous 
radiance ! 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  25-/ 

CCCCXXV.        Children    in    Prison.        Jsa.    liv.     13. 
"  Thy  children  shall  be  taught  of  the  Lord." 

An  interesting  circumstance  occurred  lately  in  Finland. 
Some  cliildren  from  seven  to  nine  years  of  age  were  so 
brought  under  the  sensible  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
convincing  them  of  their  sins,  that,  on  their  going  to  or 
from  school,  they  retired  into  the  woods,  and  there  put  up 
their  prayers  to  the  Lord,  with  many  tears.  By  degrees 
their  number  increased.  The  parents  of  some  of  them 
found  them  thus  engaged,  and  with  rebukes  and  stripes 
dispersed  them ;  but  the  parents  of  others,  who  had 
noticed  the  increased  sobriety  and  good  behaviour  of  their 
children,  encouraged  them  to  meet  together  in  their  houses, 
and  not  to  go  out  into  the  woods.  The  children  did  so  ; 
and  some  of  these  parents,  observing  their  reh'gious  ten- 
derness, and  hearing  their  solemn  prayers  to  the  Lord,  the 
Redeemer,  and  Saviour  of  sinners,  felt  themselves  strong 
convictions  of  sin.  They  joined  their  children  in  their 
devotions,  and  a  great  reform  took  place  in  that  part  of 
the  country.  This  e.x cited  the  angry  feelings  of  the  priest, 
who  was  a  bad  man  and  a  drunkard.  He  went  to  the 
magistrate  to  enter  his  complaints  against  both  children 
and  parents.  The  prosecution  issued  in  their  all  being 
sent  to  prison. 

They  had  seen  some  months  in  confinement,  when  the 
Prince  Alexander  Galitzin  heard  that  children  were  in 
prison  on  account  of  religion.  He  thought  it  so  strange 
an  occurrence  that  he  sent  confidential  persons  to  inquire 
into  it.  They  found  so  much  religious  sensibiUty  and 
tenderness  in  the  children,  that  they  were  greatly  surprised, 
especially  at  the  simplicity  with  which  they  related  how 
they  had  been  brought  under  trouble  because  of  their  sin- 
ful hearts,  and  how  they  had  felt  that  they  must  pray  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  alone  could  forgive  them  and 
enable  them  to  live  in  a  state  of  acceptance  before  God. 
Being  inquired  of  if  their  parents  or  others  had  not  put 
them  on  doing  this,  they  said  that  so  far  from  that, 
they  were  afraid  that  their  parents  or  any  one  else  should 
know  how  it  was  with  them,  that  they  retired  privately  in 
the  woods  to  pray  and  cry  with  tears  unto  the  Lord.  The 
parents  also  stated  that  the  children  had  been  the  instru- 

S 


258  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

merits  of  bringing^  them  to  a  sense  of  their  sinful  lives,  and 
to  seek  the  Lord  that  He  might  give  them  a  new  heart, 
and  pour  forth  His  Spirit  upon  them.  Moreover,  it  was 
found  that  the  conduct  of  these  people  and  children  had 
been  such  during  their  imprisonment  as  to  comport  with 
their  Christian  profession.  The  prince  ordered  their  re- 
lease, and  had  the  priest  and  the  magistrates  severely  re- 
primanded and  removed  from  their  offices.  The  emperor 
having  heard  of  all  this,  and  of  the  great  sufferings  to 
which  these  families  were  reduced  in  consequence  of  their 
long  imprisonment,  which  took  place  just  before  harvest, 
ordered  that  all  their  losses  should  be  liberally  made  up 
to  them,  making  ample  provision,  also,  for  their  present 
support. 

CCCCXXVI.        Hearing,  not  Reading.        Isa.  Iv.  3. 

'■'■  hicline  yotir  ear,  and  come  unto  Me;  hear,  and  your  soul 
shall  live^ 

A  POOR  man  being  on  his  death-bed,  asked  that  the  fifty- 
fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah  should  be  read  to  him.  Though  weak, 
and  faint,  and  full  of  pain,  yet  when  he  heard  the  words, 
"  Incline  your  ear,  and  come  unto  Me  ;  hear,  and  your 
soul  shall  live,"  he  gathered  up  his  strength  to  say,  "What 
a  mercy,  sir,  that  it  is  not  '  Read,  and  your  soul  shall  live  ; ' 
for  if  it  had  been,  I  could  not  have  been  saved,  for  you 
know  I  am  no  scholar !  But  blessed  be  God,  it  is  '  Hear, 
and  your  soul  shall  live  ; '  I  have  heard,  and  believed,  and 
trust  I  shall  be  saved." 

CCCCXXVII.     Trust    the     Promises.     Isa.    Iv.    3. 
"  The  sure  mercies  of  David" 

Last  winter  a  man  crossed  the  Mississippi  on  the  ice,  and, 
fearing  it  was  too  thin,  began  to  crawl  on  his  hands  and 
knees  in  great  terror ;  but  when  he  gained  the  opposite 
shore,  all  worn  out,  another  man  drove  past  him  gaily, 
sitting  upon  a  sled  loaded  with  pig-iron.  That  is  just  the 
way  most  Christians  go  up  to  the  heavenly  Canaan,  trem- 
bling at  every  step  lest  the  promises  shall  break  under 
their  feet,  when  really  they  are  secure  enough  for  us  to 
hold  our  heads  and  sing  with  confidence  as  we  march  to 
the  better  land. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES,  259 


CCCCXXVIII.     Joy  and  Peace  -n   Dying.     Isa.  Iv. 
12.     '■'For  ye  sliall  go  out  with  joy,  and  be  led  forth  ivith  peace.' 

Lady  Lush's  deathbed  was  characterized  by  the  joy- 
fuhiess  of  a  Christian  about  to  enter  the  gh)rious  presence 
of  the  Lord.  Dr.  Landels,  in  his  memorial  sermon, 
said  :  "Amidst  all  her  bodily  sufferings,  her  inward  peace 
never  failed.  The  Lord  was  with  her  all  through,  and 
never  withdrew  from  her  for  a  moment  the  light  of  His 
countenance.  'The  Lord  is  with  you,  dear,'  whispered 
the  voice  of  affection.  'Yes,  He  is  never  absent,'  was 
the  calm,  glad  response.  And  again,  '  Is  it  peace,  clear  } ' 
to  which  she  replied,  '  Peace  does  not  express  it — it  is 
joy.'" 

CCCCXXIX.     The     Close     of    Life.      Isa.    Ivii.    15. 

"  Eternity." 

Albert  Barnes,  in  his  sermon  on  "  Life  at  Threescore," 
illustrates  the  magnitude  of  eternal  things  as  he  approaches 
the  end  of  life,  compared  with  those  which  ordinarily  occupy 
the  attention  of  mankind,  by  the  following  figure: — • 

"  The  earth,  as  it  moves  in  its  orbit  from  year  to  year, 
maintains  its  distance  of  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  from 
the  sun  ;  and  the  sun,  except  when  seen  through  a  hazy 
atmosphere,  at  its  rising  or  its  setting,  seems  at  all  times 
to  be  of  the  same  magnitude — to  human  view  an  object 
always  small,  as  compared  with  our  own  world.  But 
suppose  the  earth  should  leave  its  orbit,  and  make  its  way 
in  a  direct  line  towards  the  sun.  How  soon  would  the  sun 
seem  to  enlarge  its  dimensions !  How  vast  and  bright 
would  it  become  !  How  soon  would  it  fill  the  whole  field 
of  vision,  and  all  on  the  earth  dwindle  to  nothing  !  So 
human  life  now  appears  to  me.  In  earlier  years,  eternit}' 
appeared  distant  and  small  in  importance.  But  at  the 
period  of  life  which  I  have  now  reached,  it  seems  to  me  as 
if  the  earth  had  left  the  orbit  of  its  annual  movement,  and 
were  making  a  rapid  and  direct  flight  to  the  sun.  The 
objects  of  eternit)',  towards  which  I  am  moving,  rapidly 
enlarge  themselves.  They  have  become  overpoweringly 
bright  and  grand.  They  fill  the  whole  field  of  vision,  and 
the  earth,  with  all  which  is  the  common  object  of  human 
ambition  and  pursuit,  is  vanishing  away  !  " 


26o  OLD   TESTAMENT  AAECDOTES. 

CCCCXXX.     A    Great    God     and    a    Little    God. 

IsA.  Ivii.  15.  "  For  thus  saith  the  high  atid  lofty  One  that  in- 
habiteth  eternity,  wlwse  name  is  Holy  ;  I  dwell  in  the  high 
and  holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble 
spirit:' 

Collins,  the  freethinker,  met  a  plain  country  man  going 
to  church.  He  asked  him  where  he  was  going.  "To 
church,  sir."  "What  todotliere?"  "To  worship  God." 
"  Pray,  whether  is  your  God,  a  great  or  a  Httle  God  ?  "  "  He 
is  both,  sir."  "  How  can  He  be  both  ? "  "  He  is  so  great,  sir, 
that  the  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  Him,  and  so 
httle  that  He  can  dwell  in  my  heart."  Collins  declared  that 
this  simple  answer  from  the  country  man  had  more  effect 
upon  his  mind  than  all  the  volumes  which  learned  doctors 
had  written  against  him. 

CCCCXXXI.  An  Arctic  Explorer  and  Sabbath 
Keeping.  Isa.  Iviii.  13.  '■'■  Jf  thou  turn  away  thy  foot 
from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleasure  on  My  holy  day  ;  and 
call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honourable  ;  and 
shall  hotiour  Him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  wo?-ds." 

Dr.  Scoresby,  of  Arctic  fame,  was  a  devoted  Christian,  and 
not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  amid  the  pursuits  and 
honours  of  science. 

It  was  in  the  year  1820  that  he  introduced  on  board  of 
his  ship  the  regulation  as  to  no  fishing  on  the  Sabbath,  to 
the  successful  working  of  which  he  long  after  published  an 
emphatic  testimony.  He  always  kept  up  the  habit  of 
reading  prayers  and  sermons  on  board  ship,  and  one  of  his 
own  prayers,  offered  in  name  of  the  whole  ship's  company, 
on  setting  out  on  a  voyage,  has  been  preserved  in  his 
biography,  and  is  singularly  rich,  and  humble,  and  full  of 
unction.  We  may  notice  that,  during  his  stay  in  Edin- 
burgh, on  one  occasion,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  and,  being  invited  to  meet  a  party  at  his 
house  on  the  Sabbath  Day,  wrote  in  reply — "  I  fear  I  can- 
not have  the  honour  of  waiting  upon  you  on  Sunday  at 
dinner;  agreeably  to  the  arrangement  you  were  so  kind  and 
polite  as  to   propose.      For  some  years,  indeed,  I    have 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  2C1 

declined  visitinfr  on  that  day  of  the  week  ;  though  I  readily 
and  honestly  acknowled'^e  that  in  this  instance  the  priva- 
tion is  greater  than  on  any  occasion  that  ever  before 
occurred." 

CCCCXXXII.  Keeping  the  Sabbath  Holy.  Isa. 
Iviii.  13.  "  If  thou  tiirnaiuay  thy  foot  ftvm  the  Sabbath,  from 
doing  thy  pleasure  on  My  holy  day  ;  and  call  the  Sabbath  a  de- 
lii^ht,  the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honourable  ;  and  shall  honour  Hun, 
not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleasure.'^ 

Mr.  Powell  was  an  eminent  Welsh  minister  who  was 
born  in  161 7.  He  was  a  vain  and  thoughtless  youth,  and 
a  ringleader  among  his  associates  in  foil)'  and  wickedness, 
but  the  Spirit  of  God  graciously  arrested  him  in  his  sinful 
career.  As  he  was,  on  one  Lord's  Day,  standing  and  look- 
ing at  a  number  of  people  breaking  the  Sabbath  by  divers 
games,  one  of  the  Puritans  passed  by  and  addressed  him: 
"Doth  it  become  you,  sir,  that  are  a  scholar,  to  break  the 
Lord's  Day  thus.-*"  To  which  he  replied,  like  the  scoffers 
in  Malachi :  "  Wherein  do  I  break  it  ?  You  see  me  only 
stand  by;  I  do  not  play  at  all."  "But  you  find  your 
own  pleasure  herein  by  looking  on,  and  this  God  forbids 
in  His  holy  Word." 

So  he  opened  his  Bible,  and  read  those  words  in  Isaiah 
Iviii.  13,  particularly  noting  that  expression,  "  Not  finding 
thine  own  pleasure  on  My  holy  day."  He  resolved  there 
and  then  never  to  transgress  in  that  way  again,  and  God 
enabled  him  to  stand  to  his  resolution. 

CCCCXXXIII.  God's  Power  to  Save.  Isa.  lix.  i. 
"  Behold,  the  Lord's  hand  is  not  shortened,  that  it  catinot  save  ; 
neither  His  ear  heavy,  that  it  cannot  hear." 

Dr.  Krapf  was  a  missionary  to  the  Wanica  people,  and 
was  often  much  cast  down  by  their  blindness  and  ignorance. 
On  one  occasion,  being  very  despondent  about  their  con- 
dition, he  went  out  and  loolced  up  to  the  starry  heavens, 
and  he  found  all  his  misgivings  scattered  by  that  text 
flashing  into  mind  :  "  Who  is  gone  into  heaven,  and  is 
on  the  right  hand  of  G<  d  ,  angels  and  authorities  and 
powers   being  subject  to  li.ui."     He  meditated    much  on 


262  OLD    TESTAMENT  AAECDOTES. 

these  glorious  words,  and  thouglit,  "  Need  I  despair  of  these 
poor  Wanicas  ?  Can  I  doubt  His  power  ?  for  was  not  my 
own  heart  as  hard  and  bUnd  as  theirs,  and  can  He  not 
convert  them  too  ?  " 


CCCCXXXIV.      Light    in  the   World.      Isa.    Ix.    i. 

"Arise,  s/iine ;  for  thy  light  is  come." 

There  is  a  little  church  on  a  lonely  hillside  where  they 
have  neither  gas  nor  lamps,  and  yet  on  darkest  nights 
they  hold  Divine  service.  Each  worshipper,  coming  a 
great  distance  from  village  or  moorland  home,  brings  with 
him  a  taper  and  lights  it  from  the  one  supplied  and 
carried  by  the  minister  of  the  little  church.  The  building 
is  thronged,  and  the  scene  is  said  to  be  "  most  brilliant !  " 
Let  each  one  of  our  lives  be  but  a  little  taper — lighted  from 
the  Life  of  Christ,  and  carrying  His  flame — and  we  shall 
help  to  fill  this  great  temple  of  human  need  and  human 
sin  with  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God. 

CCCCXXXV.  Christ's  Kingdom  is  Growing. 
Isa.  Ix.  2.  "For,  behold,  the  darkness  shall  cover  the  earth, 
and  gross  darkness  the  people :  but  the  Lord  shall  arise  upon 
thee,  aiid  His  glory  shall  be  seefi  upon  thee." 

At  a  Church  Missionary  meeting  the  Bishop  of  Moo- 
sonee,  furnishing  proofs  of  the  growing  civilization  of  the 
Indians,  said  : — 

"  I  am  here  to  speak  of  the  conversion  of  men  to  God 
through  the  work  of  the  missionaries,  and  I  can  tell  you 
of  men  who  evidence  by  their  lives  that  they  have  been 
born  again  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  While  speaking 
some  time  ago  to  an  Indian,  I  said  to  him,  '  My  friend,  I 
should  be  glad  if  you  would  give  me  a  picture  of  the 
Indians  as  they  were  before  they  received  Christianity.' 
I  took  down  the  man's  words  in  reply  from  his  own  lips, 
and  they  were  these  : — '  Before  we  were  Christians  we  were 
very,  very  wicked  ;  we  knew  nothing  save  the  devil  and 
the  devil's  works.  We  lied,  we  stealed,  we  conjured  ;  we 
thought  we  could  prophesy.  The  Indians  robbed  men  of 
other  tribes  ;  the   Indians  robbed  each  other.     Their  lives 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  263 

were  xcxy  ;  very  wicked.*     They  were  indeed  wicked.     Let 
me  mention  a  case  in  point : — 

"  A  few  years  before  I  went  to  the  country  there  was  a 
post  belonging  to  the  Hudson  Ikiy  Company,  fifty  miles 
distant  from  Moose.  A  gentleman  lived  there  with  his 
wife  and  children,  and  some  servants,  and  he  thought  they 
were  living  in  perfect  security.  The  Indians  came  to  the 
place  regularly  to  trade,  and  he  appeared  never  to  have 
suspected  that  they  would  rise  against  him  and  take  his 
wife.  He  had  charge  of  a  large  store,  where  there  were 
things  that  gladdened  the  Indian's  heart;  there  was  plenty 
of  tea,  plenty  of  sugar,  plenty  of  guns,  plenty  of  ammu- 
nition. The  Indians  determined  that  they  would  attack 
that  place,  and  rob  the  store  of  all  that  it  contained.  And 
one  day  they  rose  against  the  master  and  his  family,  and 
his  servants,  and  killed  every  one  of  them,  with  the 
exception  of  the  youngest  servant,  who  fled  to  Moose 
factory,  which  he  reached  with  great  difficulty,  having 
been  pursued  for  many  miles  on  his  way.  The  murderers 
were  afterwards  pursued  and  captured.  One  of  them  was 
asked,  '  How  could  you  dare  to  act  in  such  a  way  towards 
people  who  had  always  shown  you  the  greatest  kindness  .'' ' 
He  said,  'We  were  instigated  to  it  by  our  conjurers  ;  they 
told  us  to  do  it'  The  conjurers  were  asked  how  they 
dared  to  give  such  advice  to  the  people,  and  they  said, 
'  Our  Moneto  '  (that  is,  spirit)  '  told  us  to  do  it.  He  told 
us  to  attack  the  store,  and  not  respect  the  lives  of  those 
who  had  charge  of  it — the  lives  of  the  father,  the  mother, 
the  children,  or  the  servants.'  These  Indians  had  no  feel- 
ings of  hostility  towards  the  people  at  that  post,  but  they 
paid  attention  to  their  sorcerers  and  conjurers,  and  they 
thought,  perhaps,  that  they  were  doing  their  duty.  How 
is  it  with  the  missionaries  and  their  families  now  .-'  They 
live  in  those  regions  in  the  greatest  imaginable  security. 
The  most  precious  treasure  which  I  have  in  this  world  is 
my  wife  and  children,  and  I  should  not  feel  the  slightest 
anxiety  in  entrusting  them  to  the  charge  of  these  Indians. 
I  should  be  sure  they  would  be  well  and  kindly  treated, 
and  that  they  would  be  protected  day  and  night.  That  is, 
I  think,  saying  a  good  deal." 


264  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES 

CCCCXXXVI.  Gone  into  the  World  of  Light. 
ISA.  Ix.  19,  ^'- The  Lord  shall  be  unto  thee  an  everlasting 
light." 

Never  since  the  great  minstrel  of  the  border  was  borne 
from  Abbotsford  to  Dr}burgh  Abbey  has  the  valley  of 
the  Tweed  been  so  moved  as  when  the  sage  of  Allerly, 
Sir  David  Brewster,  was  carried  to  his  tomb  in  the  old 
abbey  of  Melrose,  amidst  sorrowing  crowds  of  friends 
and  neighbours,  and  representatives  from  the  seats  of 
learning  and  science.  There  he  rests  till  the  resurrection 
morn,  and  the  stone  that  marks  the  spot  where  he  lies 
bears  the  simple  and  appropriate  words — "  The  Lord  is 
MY  Light." 

CCCCXXXVII.     An  Inscription  of  a  Tombstone. 

ISA.  Ix.  20.  "  Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down:  for  the  Lord 
shall  be  thine  everlasting  light,  a?id  the  days  of  thy  mourning 
shall  be  ended" 

Of  all  the  inscriptions  in  the  necropolis  of  Glasgow,  none 
strikes  a  visitor  so  much  as  the  texts  of  Scripture  inscribed 
on  the  monument  of  Dr.  Beattie,  who  died  in  his  fortieth 
year.  One  gives  the  mortal  side  :  "Thy  sun  shall  go  down 
while  it  is  yet  day ;  "  the  other  turns  the  medal,  and  we 
read  the  inscription,  full  of  immortalit)'- :  "  Thy  sun  shall 
no  more  go  down  :  for  the  Lord  God  shall  be  thine  ever- 
lasting light,  and  the  days  of  thy  mourning  shall  be 
ended." 

CCCCXXXVIII.  Captives.  Isa.  Ixi.  i.  ^' To  proclaim 
liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them 
that  are  bound" 

A  BAND  of  Algerian  pirates  had  taken  many  prisoners, 
who  were  chained  to  the  oars  to  row  their  masters. 
Suddenly  ships  of  war  were  seen  in  the  distance,  and 
the  captives  knew  there  was  hope.  But  their  masters 
came  on  deck.  "  Pull  for  your  lives,"  cried  they.  The 
whip  was  laid  on,  and  the  poor  captives  were  forced  to 
pull,  and  thus,  by  their  own  efforts,  to  fly  from  their 
rescuers.      So    Satan    is   a   hard    taskmaster,    and    when 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  265 

Jesus  comes  to  the  soul,  and   it  is  about  to  yield,  Satan 
places  all  sorts  of  snares  for  it. 


CCCCXXXIX.  Dancing  for  Joy.  Tsa.  hi.  10.  "/ 
will  greatly  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  my  soul  shall  be  joyful  in 
my  Go:L" 

A  Ri.MiMSCENCE  of  the  late  Professor  (Rabbi)  Duncrwi 
is  incidentally  given  by  Dr.  Bonar.  "One  day  he  said 
to  me,  and  said  it  sorrowfully,  in  one  of  our  many  walks, 
*  I  was  as  nearly  an  atheist  as  I  believe  it  possible  for 
a  man  to  be,' — implying  that,  from  his  own  experience, 
he  was  inclined  to  conclude  that  there  never  was  such 
a  being  as  an  out-and-out  atheist.  His  dread  of  his  own 
doubtings  was  seen  strikingly  in  what  he  said  to  a  friend, 
regarding  the  breaking  of  the  light :  '  When  first  I  saw 
there  could  be  a  GOD,  /  danced  for  joy!  It  was  when 
walking  out  alone  that  this  light  broke.  It  was  on  '  the 
Brig  o'  Dee'  that  he  'danced  for  joy.'  " 

CCCCXL.  Christ  Covering  the  Sinner.  Isa.  Ixi. 
10.     "  He  hath  covered  me  with  the  robe  of  righteousness." 

An  American  citizen  had  been  condemned  in  a  Spanish 
court,  and  was  to  die  ;  but  the  consul  interposed,  and 
declared  that  the  Spanish  authorities  had  no  power  to 
put  him  to  death.  Being  determined  to  save  him,  he 
was  wrapped  round  in  the  flags — the  stars  and  stripes. 
"  Now  fire,  if  you  dare,"  he  said.  "  If  you  do,  you  defy 
the  great  nation  represented  by  these  flags."  There  stood 
the  man,  and  before  him  the  soldiers  ;  and  yet  he  was 
invulnerable,  as  though  in  a  coat  of  mail.  So  is  the  sinner, 
wrapped  round  by  the  blood-red  robe  of  Christ. 

CCCCXLI.  God's  Constant  and  Personal 
Supervision  of  His  People.  Isa.  Ixiii.  13. 
"  That  led  them  as  an  horse  in  the  wilderness,  that  they 
should  not  stumble." 

The  following  is  an  incident  of  travel  in  which  light  is 
thrown  upon  a  beautiful  expression  of  Isaiah,  "That   led 


266  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

them  as  an  horse  in  the  wilderness,  that  they  should  not 
stumble,"  of  which  the  commentators  give  many  dis- 
tracting representations.  Two  English  gentlemen  were 
conveying  their  horses  across  the  wilderness  to  be  used 
in  Palestine.  The  journey  lasted  for  more  tiian  six  weeks, 
and  during  all  that  time  these  horses  were  only  occasionally 
mounted  ;  they  were  led  by  hand  almost  every  step  of  the 
way,  being  watched  over  with  particular  care  by  special 
attendants,  that  they  might  take  no  harm  from  the  some- 
what rude  ordeal  to  which  their  owners  thought  it  well 
to  expose  them.  And  when  I  saw  those  two  horses  led 
thus  carefully  through  the  rocky  desert,  and  marked  how 
carefully  the  guides  picked  out  the  easiest  tracks  for  them, 
and  paid  continual  attention  to  their  food,  and  to  their 
health,  and  to  the  state  of  their  hoofs,  which  were  sorely 
tried  by  the  hard  and  burning  soil  on  which  they  trod,  I 
could  neither  help  recalling  this  passage  in  Isaiah,  nor 
recognising  in  the  picture  an  illustration  of  the  prophet's 
idea. 

Each  master  would  take  the  bridle  of  his  steed  upon  his 
arm,  and  would  walk  beside  him,  encouraging  him  with 
kindly  words.  Especially  when  the  track  led  over  one  of 
the  frightful  passes  of  the  Sinaitic  region,  where  a  sort  of 
staircase  of  slippery  rock  leads  up  or  down  on  the  edge 
of  a  yawning  ravine,  the  master  would  be  sure  to  give  his 
personal  aid  in  guidmg  his  terrified  favourite  safely  over  so 
perilous  a  place.  I  can  fancy  I  see  the  picturesque  group 
at  this  moment  ;  the  skilful  Arab  groom  and  the  affec- 
tionate English  master  busied  in  restraining  the  snorting, 
rearing  creature  whose  reluctance  taxed  all  their  patience 
and  gentle  force.  One  time  they  would  cover  his  eyes, 
that  he  might  not  see  all  the  danger  that  lay  in  front  of 
him  ;  at  another  time  they  would  urge  him  forward  with 
mingled  caresses  and  blows  ;  sometimes  they  would  stoop 
down  to  plant  his  feet  in  the  securest  spots,  and  when 
safe  ground  was  reached  at  length,  they  would  lavish  a 
thousand  endearments  upon  him,  as  though  he  had  verily 
done  something  worthy  of  reward  and  praise,  instead  of 
owing  all  his  success  to  the  wisdom  and  care  of  his  anxious 
guides. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  267 

CCCCXLII.     What  must  Heaven  be?     Isa.  Ixv.   17. 
"For,  behold,  I  create  new  heavens  and  a  fiew  eai/h." 

HaJI  HagOP  was  an  Armenian  convert  to  Christianity, 
and  in  the  increasinj:^  infirmities  of  old  age  he  longed  to 
depart  and  be  with  Clirist.  Taking  a  book  from  beneath 
his  cushion,  he  said  to  a  missionary,  "  Next  to  my  Bible, 
this  is  precious  to  my  soul  ;  I  am  now  reading  it  through 
for  the  third  time."  It  was  a  worn  copy  of  Baxter's 
"Saints'  Rest"  in  Armenian.  When  told  that  the  "Saint" 
wrote  the  book  when  sick  and  with  heaven  full  in  view, 
he  was  greatly  interested,  and  said,  "  I  shall  meet  him 
there,  and  will  tell  him  how  it  has  comforted  me  in  my 
pilgrimage."  He  then  gave  the  visitor  an  account  of  what 
some  one  had  told  him  of  the  wonders  of  American  cities 
— of  the  broad,  clean  streets,  the  churches,  the  khans 
(hotels)  like  palaces,  etc.  He  added,  "  It  was  wonderful, 
and  as  I  listened,  I  thought  after  this  manner:  'What  must 
heaven  be  ? '  If  he  should  tell  all  this  to  a  poor  Koord, 
who  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  anything  better  than  his 
hole  in  the  ground,  what  idea  would  he  get }  Just  none  at 
all:  you  might  as  well  describe  the  light  to  a  blind  man. 
And  then  I  said  to  myself,  '  So  little  can  /  understand  of 
heaven  ;  but  thanks  be  to  God,  through  the  blood  of  His 
dear  Son,  I  shall  one  day  see  and  know  it  all  for  myself.'" 

CCCCXLIII,  The  Corruption  of  Sin.  Jer.  vi.  14. 
"  They  have  healed  also  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  My  people 
slightly:' 

Like  snow-drift  when  it  has  levelled  the  churchyard 
mounds,  and  glistening  in  the  winter  sun,  lies  so  pure  and 
fair  and  beautiful  above  the  dead  who  fester  and  rot  below, 
a  very  plausible  profession,  wearing  the  look  of  innocence, 
may  conceal  from  human  eyes  the  foulest  heart-corruption. 

CCCCXLIV.  Entreating  Sinners  to  come  to 
Jesus.  Jer.  ix.  i.  "(?//  that  my  head  were  waters,  a/id 
mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears,  that  I  might  weep  day  and  ?ught 
for  the  slain  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  I  " 

One  of  Mr.  Sherman's  members  writes  thus  of  his  ministry  : 
"  This  I  can  testify,  that  his  sermons  sent  us  home  to  our 
closets,  and  made  us  careful  to  harrow  in  the  good  seed  of 


268  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

the  Word  before  the  birds  of  the  air  had  time  to  rob  us  of 
it."  There  is  an  anecdote  tuld  of  a  careless  Sabbat  h- 
breaker  who  stumbled  into  his  chapel  one  Sunday  evening, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  prayer.  He  took  his  stand  in  the 
aisle,  and  seeing  the  tears  rolling  down  the  minister's  cheeks 
and  falling"  on  the  book  as  he  was  pleading  for  the  con- 
version of  sinners,  he  was  aroused,  and  said  to  himself: 
"  This  man  is  evidently  in  earnest ;  there  must  be  some- 
thing in  the  condition  of  sinners  that  I  do  not  understand." 
He  remained,  was  instructed  and  converted,  and  became  a 
useful  and  steady  member  of  the  congregation. 

CCCCXLV.  The  Handwriting  of  God.  Jer.  x. 
12.  ^'  He  hath  made  the  earth  by  His  foiver,  Be  hath  es- 
tabhshed  the  world  by  His  wisdom,  and  hath  stretched  out  the 
heavens  by  His  discretion." 

Thomas  Carlyle,  having  on  one  occasion  spoken  of  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  as  being  part  of  a  Bible 
about  the  Divine  authority  of  which  many  wise  and  good 
men  have  been  doubtful,  went  on  to  say,  "  at  any  rate,  we 
are  sure  that  in  the  rocks  and  seas  and  stars  we  have  the 
authentic  handwriting  of  the  Most  High." 

CCCCXLVI.     Christ  not  Needed.    Jer.  xii.  5.    ''Hou 
wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan  i  " 

A  PROMINENT  business  man  thus  expressed  himself  to  a 
Christian  minister:  "I  am  interested  in  Church  matters, 
and  always  glad  to  see  ministers  when  they  call.  But  I 
have  thought  the  subject  over  long  and  carefully,  and  have 
come  to  the  deliberate  decision  that  I  have  no  need  of 
Jesus."  A  single  week  had  not  passed  before  that  man  was 
taken  sick.  His  disease  was  accompanied  with  such  in- 
flammation of  the  throat  as  forbade  his  speaking  at  all. 
This  enforced  silence  continued  until  the  hour  of  death, 
when  he  was  enabled  to  utter  simply  this  one  despairing 
whisper  :  "  Who  shall  carry  me  over  the  river  f  " 

CCCCXLVII.  The  Weeping  Intercessor.  Jer.  xiii. 
17.  "  Bt^t  if  ye  will  not  hear  it,  my  soul  shall  weep  in  secret 
places  for  your  pride" 

There  is  a  distinct  connection  between  importunate  agon- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  AAECDOTES.  269 

izinp^  and  true  success,  even  as  between  the  travail  and  the 
birth,  llie  sowing  in  tears  and  the  rea[jing  in  joy.  "  How 
is  it  that  your  seed  comes  up  so  soon  ?  "  said  one  gardener 
to  anotlier.  "  Because  I  steep  it,"  was  the  reply.  We  must 
steep  all  our  teachmgs  in  tears,  "  when  none  but  God  is 
nigh,"  and  their  giowth  will  surprise  and  delight  us.  Could 
any  one  wonder  at  Brainerd's  success,  when  his  diary  con- 
tains such  notes  as  this? — "  Lord's  Day,  April  25th. —  Tliis 
morning  spent  about  two  hours  in  sacred  duties,  and  was 
enabled  more  than  ordinarily  to  agonize  for  immortal 
souls  ;  though  it  was  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  sun 
scarcely  shone  at  all,  yet  my  body  was  quite  wet  with 
sweat."  The  secret  of  Luther's  power  lay  in  the  same 
direction.  Theodorus  said  of  him  :  "  I  overheard  him  in 
prayer,  but  with  what  life  and  spirit  did  he  pray  !  It  was 
with  so  much  reverence,  as  if  he  were  speaking  to  God,  yet 
with  so  much  confidence,  as  if  he  were  speaking  to  his 
friend." 

CCCCXLVIII.     A  Barren  Tree.     Jer.  xv.  15.     "Take 
me  7tot  away  in  Thy  longs i/ffering." 

Thomas  Scott,  the  commentator,  tells  the  following  in- 
cident :  "A  poor  man,  most  dangerously  ill,  of  whose 
religious  state  I  entertained  some  hopes,  seemed  to  me  in 
the  agonies  of  death.  I  sat  by  his  bed  for  a  long  time, 
expecting  to  see  him  expire  ;  but  at  length  he  awoke  as 
from  a  sleep,  and  noticed  me.  I  said,  '  You  are  extremely 
ill.'  He  replied,  '  Yes,  but  I  shall  not  die  this  time.'  I 
asked  the  ground  of  this  strange  confidence,  saying  that  I 
was  persuaded  he  would  not  recover.  To  this  he  answered, 
'  I  have  just  dreamed  that  you,  with  a  very  venerable-look- 
ing person,  came  to  me.  He  ask-ed  you  what  you  thought 
of  me.  "What  kind  of  tree  is  it?  Is  there  any  fruit.-*" 
You  said,  "  No  ;  but  there  are  blossoms  !  "  "  Well  then, 
I  will  spare  it  a  little  longer  I  "  '  This  dream  so  exactly 
met  my  ideas  as  to  the  man's  state  of  mind,  and  the  event 
so  answered  his  confidence  by  recoveryj  that  I  could  not 
but  think  there  was  something  peculiar  in  it.  I  have  since 
learned  that  after  many  backslidings  the  man  became  a 
decidedly  religious  character — and  his  case  furnishes  a 
most  striking  instance  of  the  longsufifering  and  tender 
mercy  of  our  God ! " 


270  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCCXLIX.  A  Subject  neither  Studied  nor 
Understood.  Jer.  xv.  i6,  17.  "' Thy  7vord  was  unto 
me  the  Joy  and  rejoicing  of  mine  heart :  for  I  am  called  by  Thy 
7iame,  O  Lord  God  of  hosts.  I  sat  not  in  the  assembly  of  the 
mockers." 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  set  out  in  life  an  unbeliever;  but 
on  a  careful  examination  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity, 
he  found  reason  to  change  his  opinion.  Wlien  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Edmund  Halley  was  talking  infidelity  before 
him,  Sir  Isaac  Newton  addressed  him  thus  :  "  I  am  always 
glad  to  hear  you  when  you  speak  about  astronomy,  or 
other  parts  of  the  mathematics,  because  that  is  a  subject 
you  have  studied  and  well  understand  ;  but  you  should 
not  talk  of  Christianity,  for  you  have  not  studied  it.  I 
have,  and  am  certain  you  know  nothing  of  the  matter." 
This  was  a  just  reproof,  and  well  suited  to  present-day 
infidels. 

CCCCL.  Nero.  Jer.  xvii.  9.  ^'^  The  heart  is  deceitful  above 
all  things,  and  desperately  wicked :  who  can  know  it  ?  " 

The  beginning  of  Nero's  reign  was  marked  by  acts  of  the 
greatest  kindness  and  condescension, — by  affability,  com- 
plaisance, and  popularity.  The  object  of  his  administra- 
tion seemed  to  be  the  good  of  his  people  ;  and  when  he 
was  desired  to  sign  his  name  to  a  list  of  malefactors  that 
were  to  be  executed,  he  exclaimed,  "/  wish  to  Heaven  I 
C07ild  not  zvrite  !  "  He  was  an  enemy  to  flattery  ;  and  when 
the  senate  had  liberally  commended  the  wisdom  of  his 
government,  Nero  desired  them  to  keep  their  praises  till 
he  deserved  them.  Yet  this  was  the  wretch  who  assassi- 
nated his  mother,  who  set  fire  to  Rome,  and  destroyed  mul- 
titudes of  men,  women,  and  children,  and  threw  the  odium 
of  that  dreadful  action  upon  the  Christians.  The  cruelties 
he  exercised  towards  them  were  beyond  description,  while 
he  seemed  to  be  the  only  one  who  enjoyed  the  tragical 
spectacle. 

CCCCLI.    Columba  and  His  Ministry.   Jer.  xxiii.  4. 

'•'■  I  will  set  up  shepherds  over  them  which  shall  feed  them." 

On  Zona,  Columba  built  his  monastery  and  cell,  rudely 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  271 

constructed  and  thatched  with  reeds.  Round  his  dwelh'ng 
rose  the  wattle  huts  inhabited  by  his  followers  ;  and  here 
the  little  band,  headed  by  their  chief,  devoted  the  time  to 
evangelizing  pursuits. 

Occasionally  assisting  in  the  agricultural  occupations 
of  the  brethren,  in  studying  Holy  Scripture  and  transcrib- 
ing passages  of  the  sacred  text  for  the  use  of  the  com- 
munity, Columba  passed  the  first  days  of  sojourn  at  lona ; 
but  in  no  long  time  wounded,  dark  souls,  crying  for  the 
light, — craving  peace  beyond  all  else, — began  to  flock  to 
the  island  sanctuary,  and  numerous  wayfarers  gathered 
about  the  missionary's  dwelling. 

Adamnan,  Columba's  ecclesiastical  biographer,  thus 
records  a  dialogue  that  took  placa  between  the  evangelist 
and  one  of  the  wanderers  who  had  found  his  way  to  lona. 

Being  informed  one  day  that  a  stranger  from  Ireland  had 
arrived,  Columba  hastened  to  the  hospitiuni  to  welcome 
him  and  inquire  into  his  history.  The  new-comer  in- 
formed him  that  it  was  his  desire,  in  exile,  and  bound 
by  monastic  vows,  to  repent  of  his  misdeeds.  To  test  his 
sincerity,  Columba  drew  a  dismal  picture  of  the  austerities 
and  obligations  of  the  island-life. 

"  I  am  prepared,"  was  the  reply,  "to  undergo  the  hum- 
blest and  most  galling  conditions  that  can  be  imposed." 

He  then  made  his  confession,  and  on  bended  knee  vowed 
that  he  would  endure  whatsoever  penance  he  was  com- 
manded. 

"  It  is  well,"  said  Columba.  "  Now  rise  and  begone. 
Thou  must  first  labour  and  repent  in  the  neighbouring  isle 
of  Tiree  for  seven  years,  after  which  I  will  see  thee  again." 

"But,"  said  the  penitent,  "how  can  I  expiate  a  perjury 
of  which  I  have  not  yet  spoken  ?  Before  I  left  my  coun- 
try, I  slew  a  man.  I  was  placed  in  fetters  and  about  to 
suffer  death  as  the  penalty  of  my  offence,  when  a  wealthy 
kinsman  paid  the  ransom  demanded  for  my  life.  Out  of 
gratitude  I  swore  to  serve  him  all  my  days ;  but  after  a 
short  time  of  servitude  I  deserted  him,  and  here  I  am  not- 
withstanding my  vow." 

Upon  hearing  this  confession,  Columba  decided  that, 
until  the  seven  years  of  probation  had  expired,  the  penitent 
should  not  be  admitted  to  communion.  At  the  end  of  the 
term,  Columba  admitted  the  penitent  into  the  Church,  and 


272  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

sent  him  back  to  Ireland  (bearing  an  ivory-handled  sword 
as  his  ransom)  to  his  kinsman  and  former  master. 

The  kinsman,  however,  refused  to  take  the  ransom,  deem- 
ing himself  unworthy  ;  but  without  fee  or  reward  he  par- 
doned and  released  the  returned  exile.  The  freed  man 
remained  in  Ireland  until  the  death  of  his  parents,  and 
ultimately  returned  to  lona  as  to  home,  bringing  with  him 
the  ivory-handled  sword,  which  had  severed  the  chains  of 
slavery. 

This  incident  points  to  the  influence  wielded  by  Col- 
umba  over  men's  souls,  and  also  demonstrates  the  pre- 
cautions he  used  to  prevent  the  unworthy  sharing  in 
Church  membership,  or  gaining  premature  admission  into 
the  brotherhood. 

And  vigilance  was  needed,  by  reason  of  the  number  of 
applicants  ;  for  as  Columba  and  his  disciples  meditated  in 
the  quiet  of  their  cells,  or  cheerily  carried  on  the  work  of 
ploughing,  sowing,  and  reaping,  the  shouts  of  new-comers 
daily  reached  their  ears  from  the  shore  of  Mull.  Then  the 
boats  were  launched  to  ferry  the  unbidden  but  welcome 
guests  across  the  strait ;  and  having  obtained  the  aid  they 
had  journeyed  weary  miles  to  seek,  the  pilgrims  returned 
home  with  glowing  hearts  to  make  known  the  glad  tidings 
learned  at  the  island-mission,  while  others  remained  to  be 
in  due  time  admitted  into  the  community,  or  to  be  sent 
forth  to  strive  and  suffer  as  evangelists. 


CCCCLII.  A  Seasonable  Rebuke.  Jer.  xxvi.  3.  ''If 
so  be  they  will  hearken,  and  turn  every  man  frofu  his  evil 
wayT 

It  is  related,  in  the  "  Life  of  Mrs.  Savage,"  an  excellent 
sister  of  Matthew  Henry,  that  when  some  respectable  pious 
gentlemen  were  one  Sabbath  evening  assembled  together, 
they  unhappily  engaged  in  conversation  unsuitable  to  the 
day.  Betty  Parsons,  a  good  old  woman,  overhearing  them, 
said  :  "  Sirs,  you  are  making  work  for  repentance."  This 
short  and  seasonable  rebuke  restrained  them,  and  turned 
their  conversation  into  a  different  and  better  channel. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  273 

CCCCLIII.    Concentration  of  Heart.    Jer.  xxix.  13. 

"  And  ye  shall  seek  Me,  and  find  Me,  when  ye  shall  search  for 

Me  with  all  your  hearth 
A  BROKEN   heart  is   a  great   blessing,  when  it  is  broken 
by  contrition  for  sin  ;    but  a  divided  lieart  is  often  a  fatal 
disease. 

One  secret  of  success  in  life  is  concentration  ;  and  many 
of  our  young  men  find  it  out  too  late.  The  founder  of  the 
Vanderbilt  family  bent  his  whole  powers  upon  money- 
making,  and  left  the  richest  family  on  the  Continent.  Sir 
Isaac  Newton's  famous  explanation  of  his  splendid  success 
was,  "  I  intend  my  whole  mind  upon  it."  Prof  Joseph 
Henry,  of  Washington,  our  great  Christian  scientist,  used 
to  say  :  "I  have  no  faith  in  universal  geniuses  :  my  rule  is 
to  train  all  my  guns  on  one  point  until  I  make  a  breach." 
In  these  days  of  hot  competition  there  is  no  room  on  the 
street  for  any  man  who  puts  only  a  fraction  of  himself 
into  his  business. 

CCCCLIV.     Pliny's  Myrtle  and  Christ's  Cross. 

Jer.  XXX.   17.     ^'-  For  I  will  restore  health  unto  thee,  and  1 

will  heal  thee  of  thy  woujuls,  saith  the  Lord.''' 
The  heathen  naturalist,  Pliny,  tells  of  a  peculiarly  fragrant 
myrtle-tree  which  grew  in  great  abundance  in  his  own  time, 
and  which  he  represents  as  possessing  a  strange  and  even 
miraculous  virtue.  A  spray  cut  from  it  and  carried  in  the 
hand  could  so  continuously  sustain  the  body  that  weariness 
was  impossible,  while  it  exercised  such  an  exhilarating 
potency  over  the  mind  that  no  feeling  approaching  the 
sense  of  discouragement  or  despondency  could  ever  be  ex- 
perienced. That  fabled  tree  was  a  fitting  emblem  of  the 
efficacy  of  grace  in  healing  all  the  soul's  diseases,  and,  in 
its  ultimate  result,  delivering  the  body  also  from  every 
malady  which  may  now  afflict  or  oppress  it,  raising  it  up 
on  the  resurrection-day  in  the  likeness  and  loveliness  of 
the  glorious  body  of  the  Son  of  God. 

CCCCLV.  Restoration  of  Israel.  Jer-  xxxii.  37. 
"  Behold,  L  7vill  gather  them  out  of  all  countries,  ivhither  I 
have  driven  them  in  Mine  aJiger,  and  in  Aly  fury,  and  /;; 
great  ttirath  ;  a?id  I  will  bring  them  again  u/ito  this  place." 

In  the  year  1808  a  gentleman  was  riding  with  Mr.  Lewis 

T 


274  OLD   TESTAMENT  AAECDOTES. 

Way  through  a  fine  park  in  Devonshire.  "  Do  you  know,'' 
said  the  gentleman  to  Mr.  Way,  "  that  tliese  oaks  have 
rather  a  strange  condition  attached  to  tliem?  A  lady,  who 
formerly  owned  this  park,  stipulated  in  her  will  that  these 
trees  should  not  be  cut  down  until  Jerusalem  should. again 
be  in  possession  of  Israel  ;  and  they  are  growing  still." 
Mr.  Way's  interest  was  roused  by  this  story,  and  the  idea 
of  the  Jews'  restoration  took  hold  of  his  mind  ;  and,  shortly 
afterwards,  he  was  the  means  of  forming  the  London 
Society  of  the  Jews. 

CCCCLVI.    Process  of  Wine-Making.     Jer,  xlviii. 
II.     "  Moab  hath  /lot  been  emptied  from  vessel  to  vesseL" 

In  a  foreign  land  we  were  once  witness  to  the  process  of 
wine-making.  A  series  of  tuns  were  ranged  in  order,  and 
into  one  of  these  the  expressed  liquid  was  poured,  when 
the  process  of  fermentation  was  to  begin.  It  began  in  the 
first  of  the  series  of  tuns,  and,  after  some  time,  the  liquid 
was  drawn  off  to  another,  and  another,  leaving  a  sediment 
in  each  ;  and  the  process  was  prolonged  till  the  desired 
degree  of  purity  was  secured.  At  each  successive  stage, 
the  refinement  becomes  more  and  more  obvious  to  an  ex- 
perienced eye,  while  the  wine  becomes  better  and  more 
costly  ;  and  that  is  the  Scriptural  emblem  for  the  pro- 
moting of  holiness  in  the  soul. 

CCCCLVII.    A  Storm  at  Sea.    Jer.  xlix.  23.    '' There  is 

sorrow  on  the  sea  ;  it  cannot  be  quiet." 

On  one  occasion,  Dr.  Macfarlane  dined  with  Mr.  Spur- 
geon  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Boustead,  and,  during  the 
course  of  the  evening,  Mr.  Spurgeon  mentioned  a  very 
striking  coincidence.  His  brother  was  married  to  a  daugh- 
ter of  Field-Marshal  Sir  J.  B ,  whose  son  was  captain 

of  the  great  turret-ship  Captain,  which  went  down  in  the 

storm  of  the  evening  of  September  7th,  1870.     Lady  B 

told  Mr.  Spurgeon  that  she  had  been  deeply  impressed 
with  her  reading  on  that  night  in  his  "Evening  by  Evening," 
from  these  words  in  Jeremiah  xlix.  23  :  "  There  is  sorrow 
on  the  sea ;  it  cannot  be  quiet."  The  meditation  begins 
thus  :  "  Little  know  we  what  sorrow  may  be  upon  the  sea 
at  this  moment.     We  are  safe  in  our  quiet  chamber,  but 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  275 

far  away  on  the  salt  sea,  the  hurricane  may  be  cruelly 
seeking  for  the  Hves  of  men." 

CCCCLVIII.     The  "Ninety  and  Nine."     Ji.r.  1.  6. 
"  i\ry  people  hath  been  lost  sheep." 

A  WRITER  describes  a  scene  which  he  once  saw  that 
bnnight  our  Lord's  parable  of  the  "  ninety  and  nine  ' 
before  his  eyes  : — 

"On  the  Aletsch  Glacier  I  saw  a  strange,  a  beautiful 
sight — the  parable  of  the  '  ninety  and  nine'  reacted  to  the 
letter.  One  day  we  were  making  our  way  with  ice-axe 
and  alpenstock  down  the  glacier,  when  we  observed  a  flock 
of  sheep  following  their  shepherds  over  the  intricate  wind- 
ings between  crevasses,  and  so  passing  from  the  pastures 
on  one  side  of  the  glai:ier  to  the  pastures  on  the  other. 
The  flock  had  numbered  two  hundred,  all  told.  But  on 
the  way  one  sheep  had  got  lost.  One  of  the  shepherds,  in 
his  German  patois,  appealed  to  us  if  we  had  seen  it.  For- 
tunately, one  of  the  party  had  a  field-glass.  With  its  aid 
we  discovered  the  lost  sheep  far  up  amid  a  tangle  of  brush- 
wood on  the  rocky  mountain-side.  It  was  beautiful  to  see 
how  the  shepherd,  without  a  word,  left  his  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  sheep  out  on  the  glacier  waste  (knowing  they 
would  stand  there  perfectly  still  and  safe),  and  went  clam- 
bering back  after  the  lost  sheep  until  he  found  it.  And  he 
actually  put  it  on  his  shoulder  and  'returned  rejoicing.'" 

CCCCLIX.  God  Unwilling  to  Afflict.  Lam.  iii. 
2)T)-  "  J^or  He  doth  not  afflict  willitigly  nor  grieve  the  children 
of  men.''' 

Sir  William  Rowan  Hamilton,  in  writing  to  a  friend 
about  the  common  feeling  that  when  prosperity  is  great, 
chastisement  must  be  due,  says  :  "  The  ancients  had  much 
of  this  feeling,  and  partly  from  it  they  drew  their  idea  of 
the  goddess  Nemesis,  a  mysterious  power  of  whom  one 
function  was  to  chastise  the  too  prosperous  among  men. 
To  appease  this  imagined  jealousy  or  envy  of  some 
divinity,  a  king  (I  think  Polzerates  of  Samos)  is  reported 
to  have  been  advised,  by  one  of  the  wise  men  of  Greece, 
to  inflict  on  himself  some  voluntary  suftering.  The  king 
accordingly  threw  into   the  sea  a  ring  of  great  cost,  and 


276  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

one  which  he  otherwise  valued.  The  ring  was  the  next 
day  presented  to  him  by  his  cook,  who  had  found  it  in 
the  stomach  of  a  fish  ;  on  hearing  which,  the  wise  man 
withdrew  himself  from  the  king's  society,  thinking  that 
one  whose  prosperity  had  been  hitherto  so  uninterrupted 
must  be  destined  for  some  signal  and  vindictive  visitation 
of  adversity.  But  this  is  not  a  Christian  feeling.  Our 
God  indeed  chasten eth  those  whom  He  lovcth,  but  not 
because  He  grudges  them  prosperity.  Let  us  commit 
ourselves  to  His  hands  without  fear  that  He  will  visit  us 
with  affliction  for  its  own  sake,  or  because  we  are  happy 
now." 

CCCCLX.        Insensibility     to      Daily     Mercies. 

Lam.  iii.   22.      "  The  Lord's  mercies  " 

As  the  Dead  Sea  drinks  in  the  river  Jordan,  and  is  never 
the  sweeter,  and  the  ocean  all  other  rivers,  and  is  never  the 
fresher,  so  we  are  apt  to  receive  daily  mercies  from  God, 
and  still  remain  insensible  of  them,  unthankful  for  them. 

CCCCLXI.      God    Fulfilling    His    Threatenings. 

Lam.   v.    18.      "  Because  of  the  mountain  of  Zion,  which  is 
desolate,  the  foxes  walk  upo?i  it." 

It  is  said  that  two  rabbis,  when  coming  near  Jerusalem, 
saw  a  fox  running  up  the  hill  of  Zion.  The  oldest  of  the 
two  men  began  to  weep  at  the  sight,  but  Rabbi  Eliezar 
laughed.  "Wherefore  dost  thou  mourn.''"  he  said.  "I 
mourn  because  I  see  fulfilled  before  mine  eyes  that  was 
written  in  Lamentations :  '  Because  of  the  mountain  of 
Zion,  which  is  desolate,  the  foxes  fall  upon  it."  "  And  that 
is  the  reason  of  my  laughter,"  repeated  Rabbi  Eliezar,  "  for 
when  I  see  with  mine  own  eyes  that  God  is  fulfilling  His 
threatenings  to  the  letter,  I  have  in  it  a  sure  pledge  that 
not  one  of  His  promises  shall  fail,  for  He  is  more  willing 
to  be  gracious  than  to  chastise." 

CCCCLXII.     A    Quaker    Tailor.     Ezek.   i.    3.     ''The 
word  of  the  Lord  came  expressly  utito  Ezckiel  the  priest." 

John  Woolman  was  the  son  of  a  poor  farmer  near  the 
village  of   Mount    Holly  in   New  Jersey.       He  was   first 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES  277 

apprenticed,  as  a  cliild,  to  a  baker,  then  to  a  tailor.  A 
tailor  he  remained  throui^h  life.  He  was  not  a  scholar  ; 
he  was  a  man  neither  of  exceptional  intellectual  force  nor 
of  personal  magnetism  ;  he  taught  no  new  creed,  said  and 
did  nothing  to  startle  the  world.  Yet  the  little  Quaker 
tailor  was  a  power  while  living,  and  is  still  a  power  in  the 
world,  although  he  has  been  dead  more  than  a  century. 

What  was  his  secret  .-'  It  was  a  simple  matter  enough. 
When  he  was  a  boy  of  seven,  sitting  alone  by  the  roadside, 
one  day,  he  read  the  words:  "And  I  beheld  a  pure  river 
of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the 
throne  of  God."  They  moved  him  as  only  children  can  be 
moved.  The  idea  of  this  pure  water  of  life  flowing  from 
God  wholly  possessed  him  as  he  grew  older.  It  was  Truth. 
In  his  journal,  Truth  always  means  God.  While  at  his 
school,  or  at  work  in  his  shop,  the  thought  persistently 
came  to  him— if  he  could  make  of  himself  a  conduit 
through  which  this  water  of  life  should  pass  to  men  ;  stifle 
all  his  own  wishes  and  traits,  obliterate  his  own  character 
if  necessary,  and  stand  ready  and  passive  for  God  to  use ! 

The  only  point  wherein  John  Woolman  differed  from 
other  men  was  that  he  succeeded  in  doing  this.  In  great 
actions,  and  in  the  least,  he  waited  to  feel  the  "divine 
drawing  "  in  his  mind  before  he  moved.  It  was  the  story 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets  over  again. 

CCCCLXIII.  Christmas  Evans  on  Preaching. 
EzEK.  iii.  1 7.  "  Son  of  7na?i,  I  have  inade  thee  a  watchman 
unto  the  house  of  Israel :  therefore  hear  the  word  at  My  mouth, 
and  give  them  ivarning  from  iMe." 

Christmas  Evans  makes  the  following  remarks  on 
preaching :  "  I  want  preachers  to  read  all  they  can,  and 
make  use  of  ideas  which  fall  like  the  manna  of  old  ;  but 
let  them  take  them  home  to  grind,  and  boil,  and  bake  in 
the  mill  of  prayer  and  the  heated  pot  of  reflection  ;  then 
place  them  like  the  twelve  loaves  of  shewbread  on  the 
golden  table  of  the  ministry  before  the  worshippers  and 
holy  priesthood.  I  want  the  entire  word  to  be  preached, 
because  it  is  given  of  God  ;  but  with  such  connections  as 
exist  in  the  Solar  System,  or  in  the  human  body,  which, 
if  disconnected,  the  life  and  efl'ect  depart.     The  sun  is  '  the 


27S  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

world's  life  and  a  globe  of  fire.'  Were  a  husbandman  who 
tilled  and  cultivated  the  earth  for  its  products  to  hold 
a  sackcloth  towards  the  sun,  he  would  be  esteemed  an 
ignorant  owl  in  our  sight.  Were  a  surgeon  to  amputate  a 
limb,  a  hand  or  leg  from  the  body,  so  that  the  connection 
with  the  great  artery  of  the  heart  be  broken,  and  then 
endeavour  to  make  the  blood  circulate  through  the  severed 
limb,  to  quicken  and  to  warm  it,  we  should  only  say,  '  Re- 
unite the  limb  to  the  body  that  the  blood  may  pervade  it 
in  its  course,  or  else  as  soon  as  you  like,  bury  it  in  the 
earth.'  Many  preachers,  I  understand,  have  more  interest 
in  preaching  about  the  earth's  being  stricken  and  punished 
with  drought  last  year  than  about  Jesus  being  struck  on 
the  cross  all  red  with  His  blood  !  Christ's  sacrifice  and  the 
Holy  Spirit's  grace  occupy  the  place  of  the  central  sun 
and  of  the  heart's  blood  in  the  Christian  system  as  those 
do  in  their  own  systems.  I  have  observed  that  an  un- 
evangelical  style  like  that  described  has  latterly  crept  in 
amongst  all  denominations  in  Wales  in  preaching  duties. 
What  good  has  preaching  the  dead  cross  ever  done  .'*  Are 
the  churches  more  heavenly,  industrious,  and  striving .'' 
or  are  they  more  unspiritual,  insipid,  and  lethargic  .'' 
Here  is  gun,  here  is  leaden  bullet,  here  is  flint,  here  is 
touch-hole,  here  is  finger,  but  where  is  the  powder }  The 
ball  will  never  start  without  that.  He  is  the  mover  of  the 
whole,  '  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God.' 
I.  Let  us,  then,  preach  the  whole  truth  evangelically.  2. 
Faithfully,  for  souls  are  in  danger.  3.  Plainly  and  clearly, 
since  heaps  of  our  hearers  know  less  than  we  imagine. 
4.  Afifectionately,  fervently,  and  winningly  !  for  the  flame 
of  Calvary's  love  is  intense,  and  should  cause  a  glow  in 
the  pulpit,  melting  everything  to  its  own  consistency,  and 
joining  man  to  God  by  the  cross,  to  be  one  spirit  for  ever 
and  for  ever." 


CCCCLXIV.       Black,    Cold,    Hard.       Ezek.   xi.    19. 

^^  I  will  take  the  stony  heart  out  of  their  Jlesh." 

Theodore  Monod  made  use  of  a  beautiful  illustration  at 
the  last  Dublin  convention.  He  said  :  "  If  a  piece  of  iron 
could  speak,  what  would  it  say .''  It  would  say,  '  I  am 
black,   I  am  cold,  I  am  hard.'     Perfectly  true.     But  put 


OLD    TESTAMENT  AAECDOTES.  279 

that  piece  of  iron  into  a  furnace  and  wait  a  while,  and 
what  would  it  say? — 'The  blackness  is  gone,  and  the  cold- 
ness is  gone,  and  the  hardness  is  gone' — it  has  passed  into 
a  new  experience.  But  if  that  piece  of  iron  could  speak, 
surely  it  would  not  glory  in  itself,  because  the  fire  and  the 
iron  arc  two  distinct  things  that  remain  distinct  to  the  last. 
If  it  could  glory,  it  would  glory  in  the  fire,  and  that  in  itself 
— in  the  fire  that  kept  it  a  bright,  molten  mass.  So  in 
myself.  I  am  black,  I  am  cold,  and  I  am  hard  ;  but  if  the 
Lord  takes  possession  of  my  soul,  if  I  am  filled  with  love, 
if  His  Spirit  fills  my  being,  the  blackness  will  go,  and  the 
coldness  will  go,  and  the  hardness  will  go,  and  yet  the 
glory  docs  not  belong  to  me,  but  to  the  Lord  who  keeps 
me  in  a  sense  of  His  love." 

CCCCLXV.     The    Evil    Heart  of  UnbeHef.     Ezek. 
xi.  19.     "  /  will  take  the  stony  heart  out  of  their  flesh." 

An  old  friend  of  Sir  W.  Rowan  Hamilton's  wrote  him 
after  a  long  silence,  and  took  occasion  to  express  interest 
in  his  inner  life,  and  specially  in  his  spiritual  state,  and 
the  following  is  an  extract  from  his  correspondence  on  the 
subject:  "]\Iy  struggles  and  alternations  in  the  spiritual 
life  have  not  been  between  belief  and  doubt,  but  between 
warmth  and  coldness.  My  intellect  has  never  ceased  to 
embrace  Christianity  with  satisfactory  and  complete  con- 
viction :  it  is  the  evil  heart  of  unbelief  which  has,  too  often, 
departed  from  the  living  God." 

CCCCLXVI.  '« I  was  Born  so."  Ezek.  xi.  19.  "/will 
put  a  neiv  spirit  within  you  ;  and  I  will  take  the  stony  heart 
out  of  their  flesh,  and  will  give  thejn  an  heart  of  flesh.'' 

Bishop  Hall  says,  that  the  last  Cardinal  ever  .seen  in 
England,  when  a  skilful  astrologer  pretended  to  tell  him 
something  of  the  future  from  a  calculation  of  his  nativity, 
said  :  "  Such,  perhaps,  I  was  born  ;  but  since  that  time  I 
have  been  born  again,  and  my  second  nativity  has  crossed 
my  first."  And  on  this  remark  of  the  Cardinal,  Bishop 
Hall  observes,  "The  power  of  nature  is  a  good  plea  for 
those  that  acknowledge  nothing  above  nature ;  but  for  a 
Christian  to  excuse  his  intemperateness  by  his  natural 
inclination,  and  to  say,  '  I  was  born  so,'  is  an  apology 
worse  than  the  fault."     Right,  most  worthy  bishop,  right 


28o  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

for  j'ou.  and  well  for  good  people  of  all  degrees  to  bear  in 
mnid  this  sober  bit  of  truth.  "  I  was  born  so,"  is  the 
standing  and  all-sufficient  excuse  which  thousands  of  Chris- 
tians make  to  themselves  for  those  infirmities  of  character 
of  which  they  are  conscious,  but  which  they  do  not  care  to 
correct.  One  finds  secret  pleasure  in  the  indulgence  of  a 
passion  that  God  cannot  approve,  and  he  persuades  himself 
it  is  not  so  very  wrong,  because  it  is  so  natural  to  him. 
Again,  he  has  faults  which  render  him  unhappy  oftentimes, 
and  very  disagreeable  to  his  neighbours,  but  he  makes  no 
effort  to  reform  them,  on  the  same  plea  :  "  I  was  born  so, 
and  cannot  help  it."  He  is  morose  in  his  temper ;  he 
knows  it ;  but  he  says  it  is  his  way,  it  is  natural  to  him, 
and  it  is  useless  to  try  and  be  otherwise.  He  has  a  quick 
way  of  speaking  his  mind,  regardless  of  the  feelings  of 
others,  and  quite  careless  of  times,  places,  and  persons  ; 
and  when  the  fault  is  hinted  to  him,  he  says,  "  Oh,  that's 
my  way."  So  it  is,  and  a  very  bad  way  ;  and  because  it  is 
your  way,  you  ought  to  change  it. 

CCCCLXVII.       The    Forest-guarded     Highway. 

EzEK.  xviii.  4.     "  The  soul  that  shineth,  it  shall  die." 

A  TRAVELLER  relates  that,  when  passing  through  an 
Austrian  town,  his  attention  was  directed  to  a  forest  on  a 
slope  near  the  road,  and  he  was  told  that  death  was  the 
penalty  of  cutting  down  07ie  of  those  trees.  He  was  in- 
credulous until  he  was  further  informed  that  they  were  the 
protection  of  the  city,  breaking  the  force  of  the  descending 
avalanche,  which,  without  this  natural  barrier,  would  sweep 
over  the  quiet  home  of  thousands.  When  a  Russian  army 
was  marching  there,  and  began  to  cut  away  the  defence  for 
fuel,  the  inhabitants  besought  them  to  take  their  dwellings 
instead,  which  was  done. 

Such,  he  well  thought,  are  the  sanctions  of  God's  moral 
lazv.  On  the  integrity  and  support  of  that  law  depends 
the  safety  of  the  universe.  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall 
die,"  is  a  merciful  proclamation.  "  He  that  offends  in  one 
point  is  guilty  of  all,"  is  equally  just  and  benevolent.  In 
this  view,  to  every  sinner  out  of  Christ,  God  must  be  "a 
consuming  fire."  To  transgress  once  is  to  lay  the  axe  at 
the  root  of  the  tree  which  represents  the  security  and  peace 
of  every  loyal  soul  in  the  wide  dominions  of  the  Almighty. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  281 

CCCCLXVIII.      "Jesus    Opposers."     Ezek.  xxii.    29. 
'*  The  people  of  the  land  have  used  oppression." 

The  story  of  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel  in  Japan 
are  most  interesting,  but  there  are  still  many  "Jesus 
opjiosers." 

For  some  time  past  there  has  been  strong  opposition  to 
Christianity  on  the  part  of  certain  people  calling  them- 
selves the  "  Yaso  Taiji,"  or  "Jesus  opposers."  They  have 
been  lecturing  all  over  the  country,  and  have  drawn  large 
crowds  of  people  to  hear  what  they  had  to  say.  Some  of 
the  speakers  are  renegade  Greeks  and  Catholics,  who  said, 
"  We  have  tried  this  religion,  and  have  found  it  a  decep- 
tion and  fraud.  It  is  a  subtle  and  wicked  scheme  to  get 
possession  of  the  country.  As  Christ  taught  His  followers 
to  love  one  another,  so  if  any  Christian  nation  makes  war 
upon  Japan,  the  Japanese  Christians  would  not  fight,  but 
yield  at  once  to  their  enemies." 

Of  course  such  persons  have  never  been  sincere  Chris- 
tians, and  have  doubtless  professed  to  be  in  the  hope  of, 
gain. 

A  Christian  physician  recently  went  to  Yokosuka,  and 
when  his  belief  was  made  known,  his  companions  said  he 
must  renounce  his  religion  or  become  an  outcast  from  their 
society.  He  was  much  troubled,  and  shut  himself  up  for 
two  days  in  order  that  he  might  give  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  Bible  and  prayer.  He  then  said  to  his  friends: 
"  Let  come  what  will,  I  shall  not  deny  my  Master,"  and  he 
went  about  his  duties  with  a  firm  trust  in  God.  He  has 
continued  to  live  as  a  Christian,  and  to  his  great  joy  his 
companions  do  not  oppose  as  he  expected,  but  some  of 
them  are  now  attending  reiigious  services,  and  are  ap- 
parently sincere  inquirers.  The  influence  of  his  exemplary 
character  and  joyful  life  has  been  to  lead  those  who 
once  opposed  to  seek  for  the  same  precious  hope  and 
experience. 

CCCCLXIX.  Hearing  your  Funeral  Sermon. 
Ezek.  xxiv,  17.  '■'Forbear  to  cry,  make  no  viourning  for  the 
dead." 

The  eulogiums  which  one  often  hears  and  reads  of  living 
personages,  calls  up  the  experience  of  an  eccentric  charac- 


282  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

tcr.  who  had  always  insisted  that  every  man  ought  to  hear 
his  own  funeral  sermon,  since  it  concerned  Jiiui  more  than 
anybody  else !  So  when  he  was  very  ill,  and  sure  in  his 
own  mind  that  he  was  "elected  to  die,"  he  sent  his  wife  to 
the  old  minister,  who  kindly  complied  with  the  novel  re- 
quest. When  he  had  prepared  the  sermon,  he  came  with 
all  gravity  to  read  it  to  the  sick  man.  "I  never  was  much 
given  to  being  proud,  or  sot  up,"  said  the  old  man  (who 
lived  to  tell  the  story),  "  but  that  sermon  almost  did  the 
business  for  me — to  think  of  the  church  crowded  with 
people,  and  me  lying  there  in  my  coffin,  and  the  minister 
looking  down  from  the  pulpit  and  saying  all  that  for  an 
hour !  Why,  I  almost  backslode  1  I  came  mighty  nigh 
falling  from  grace!  I  tell  you,  if  there's  anything  that'll 
make  a  man  proud  and  sot  up,  it's  hearing  his  own  funeral 
sermon." 

CCCCLXX.       A     Mighty     Noise.       Ezek.     xxvi.    13. 
"  And  I  will  cause  the  tioise  of  thy  songs  to  cease.^' 

"  The  singing  of  an  army,  to  beguile  the  weary  march,  do 
you  not  remember  it,  old  soldiers,  with  hairs  just  turning 
grey  ?  It  is  an  ascertained  fact  of  acoustics  that  the  sur- 
face of  a  plain  trembles  with  the  sound  and  the  air  fairly 
rocks  with  such  melodious  concussion.  When  Xenophon's 
army  first  caught  sight  of  the  Euxine,  after  an  exhaustive 
march  of  suffering,  they  cried  out,  '  TJialatta,  thalatta ! ' 
*  The  sea,  the  sea !  '  and  birds  fell  dead  from  the  mighty 
shout.  So  fish  are  killed  by  the  thunder  of  heavy  ordnance. 
I  remember,  at  the  first  'Peace  Jubilee'  in  Boston,  that 
the  singing  of  so  vast  a  chorus,  with  accompaniments, 
wrought  me  to  the  pitch  of  wildness  ;  my  nerves  turned 
tyrants,  and  I  fled  the  building,  lest  I  died." 

CCCCLXXI.  Groaning,  but  not  Grumbling.  Ezek. 
XXX.  24.  "  He  shall  groan  before  him  tvith  the  groanings  of  a 
deadly  wounded  tnan." 

"A  RELIGIOUS  commander  being  shot  in  battle,  when  the 
wound  was  searched  and  the  bullet  cut  out,  some  standing 
by  pitying  his  pain,  he  replied,  '  Though  I  groan,  yet  I 
bless  God  I  do  not  grumble.'  God  allows  His  people  to 
groan,  though  not  to  grumble." 


OLD    TESTAMEAT  ANECDOTES.  $83 

CCCCLXXII.       The    Dumb    Bell.      Ezek.   xxxiii.    22. 
"  And  my  mouth  was  opened,  and  I  was  no  mo?-e  dumhy 

Mr.  Gatty,  in  his  book  on  "  Bells,"  gives  the  following 
anecdote,  on  the  credit  of  Cardinal  Baronius :  "  When 
Charles  II.,  King  of  France,  A.D.  615,  was  at  Sen.s,  in  Bur- 
gundy, he  heard  a  bell  in  the  church  of  St.  Stephen,  the 
sound  of  which  pleased  him  so  much  that  he  ordered  it  to 
be  transported  to  Paris.  The  Bishop  of  Sens,  however,  was 
greatly  displeased  at  this,  and  the  bell  so  S}'mpathised  with 
him  that  it  turned  dumb  on  the  road  and  lost  all  its  sound. 
When  the  king  heard  of  this,  he  commanded  that  the  bell 
should  be  carried  back  to  its  old  quarters,  when,  strange  to 
relate,  as  it  approached  the  town,  it  recovered  its  original 
tone,  and  began  to  ring  so  as  to  be  heard  at  Sens,  whilst 
yet  about  four  leagues  distant  from  it." 

The  true  preacher  grows  silent  if  forced  to  any  other 
service  than  his  Lord's.  If  he  attempts  to  speak  on  any 
other  topic  than  that  which  concerns  his  Lord  and  the 
Gospel,  he  misses  his  former  force  ;  he  is  not  at  home,  he 
is  glad  to  end  his  speech  and  sit  down.  Our  bell  is  dumb 
if  it  does  not  ring  out  for  Jesus.  The  world  would  soon 
dismiss  us  if  it  had  hired  us  to  be  its  orator,  for  our  heart 
is  elsewhere,  and  only  upon  the  one  dear,  familiar  flieme 
can  we  be  eloquent. 

CCCCLXXIIL      Charlotte    Elliot's  Hymn.     Ezek. 
xxxiii.  32.      "  y^  7'ery  lovely  song" 

Some  fifty  years  ago,  that  eminent  minister,  Caesar  Malan 
of  Geneva,  was  a  guest  of  the  Elliots,  a  well-to-do  family 
in  the  West  End  of  London. 

One  evening,  in  conversation  with  the  daughter,  Charlotte, 
he  wished  to  know  if  she  was  a  Christian.  The  young  lady 
resented  his  question,  and  told  him  that  religion  was  a 
matter  which  she  did  not  wish  to  discuss.  Mr.  Malan 
replied,  with  his  usual  sweetness  of  manner,  that  he  would 
not  pursue  the  subject  then  if  it  displeased  her,  but  he 
would  pray  that  she  might  "  give  her  heart  to  Christ,  and 
become  a  useful  worker  for  Him." 

Several  days  afterwards  the  young  lady  apologised  for 
her  abrupt  treatment  of  the  minister,  and  confessed  that 
his  question  and  his  parting  remark  had  troubled  her. 


284  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

"  But  I  do  not  know  how  to  find  Christ,"  she  said,  "  I 
want  you  to  help  me." 

"  Come  to  Www  J7ist  as  you  are"  said  Mr.  Malan. 

He  h'ttle  thought  that  one  day  that  simple  reply  would 
be  repeated  in  song  by  the  whole  Christian  world. 

Further  advice  resulted  in  opening  the  young  lady's 
mind  to  spiritual  light,  and  her  life  of  devout  activity  and 
faith  began.  She  possessed  literary  gifts,  and  having 
assumed  the  charge  of  the  Yearly  Remembrancer  on  the 
death  of  its  editor,  she  inserted  several  original  poems 
(without  her  name)  in  making  up  her  first  number.  One 
of  the  poems  was  : — 

"Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea. 
But  that  Thy  blood  was  shed  for  me, 
And  that  Thou  bidd'st  me  come  to  Thee, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come  !  " 
The  words  of  Pastor  Malan,  realized  in  her  own  experience, 
were  of  course  the  writer's  inspiration. 

Beginning  thus  its  public  history  in  the  columns  of  an 
unpretending  religious  magazine,  the  little  anonymous 
hymn,  with  its  sweet  counsel  to  troubled  minds,  found  its 
way  into  devout  persons'  scrap-books,  then  into  religious 
circles  and  chapel  assemblies,  and  finally  into  the  hymnals 
of  the  "  Church  universal."  Some  time  after  its  publication 
a  philanthropic  lady,  struck  by  its  beauty  and  spiritual 
value,  had  it  printed  on  a  leaflet,  and  sent  for  circulation 
through  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  kingdom  ;  and  in  con- 
nection with  this  an  incident  at  an  English  watering-place 
seems  to  have  first  revealed  its  authorship  to  the  world. 
Miss  Elliot,  being  in  feeble  health,  was  staying  at  Torquay, 
in  Devonshire,  under  the  care  of  an  eminent  physician. 
One  day  the  doctor,  who  was  an  earnest  Christian  man, 
placed  one  of  those  floating  leaflets  in  his  patient's  hands, 
saying  he  felt  sure  she  would  like  it.  The  surprise  and 
pleasure  were  mutual  when  she  recognised  her  own  hymn, 
and  he  discovered  that  she  was  its  author. 

CCCCLXXIV.  Among  the  Flock.  Ezek.  xxxiv.  12. 
"  As  a  shepherd  seeketh  out  his  flock  in  the  day  that  he  is 
amo?ig  his  sheep  that  are  scattered. ' 

The  late  Irenaeus  Prime  gives  the  following  account  of  his 
father's  visiting  among  his  flock  : — 

"  As  soon  as   my  father   arrived  at   any  house   in  his 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  285 

scattered  and  extended  parish,  all  the  ordinary  cares  of  the 
family  were  suspended,  and  the  whole  time  of  every  mem- 
ber given  to  him.  On  his  first  induction  to  this  people,  it 
was  the  custom  of  the  good  woman  of  the  house  to  begin 
to  fly  about  when  the  minister  came,  to  fix  up  the  best 
parlour,  and  get  ready  some  warm  biscuit  for  tea,  or  a  pair 
of  chickens  for  dinner,  if  he  came  before  noon,  and  thus  all 
her  time  was  spent,  like  that  of  Martha,  in  much  serving. 
Mr.  Prime  soon  put  an  end  to  that  mode  of  entertainment, 
by  informing  his  people  from  the  pulpit,  that  when  he 
came  to  see  them  at  their  houses,  it  was  not  to  be  feasted, 
but  to  feed  their  souls,  and  the  souls  of  their  children  ; 
and,  therefore,  if  they  wished  to  please  him,  they  would  do 
as  Mary  did,  sit  still  and  listen.  This  hint,  after  sundry 
repetitions,  had  the  desired  effect,  and  he  was  able  to  enjoy 
the  whole  time  of  his  visit  in  those  great  duties  which  he 
felt  to  be  of  unspeakable  importance  to  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  family.  The  heads  of  the  household  were  first  con- 
versed with  freely  on  the  progress  which  they  were  making 
in  personal  religion  ;  if  they  had  doubts,  and  fears,  or  any 
other  difficulties  about  which  they  needed  direction,  they 
were  encouraged  to  make  them  known,  and  from  the  stores 
of  his  well-furnished  mind,  and  the  richer  treasures  of  a 
deeply  spiritual  experience  and  great  familiarity  with  the 
Word  of  God,  he  was  able  to  impart  just  that  counsel 
which  their  trials  seemed  to  require.  If  they  were  back- 
ward in  their  performance  of  any  of  the  acknowledged 
duties  of  Christian  life,  if  the  worship  of  God  in  the  family 
was  not  faithfully  attended  to,  if  they  were  at  variance  with 
any  of  their  neighbours,  or  slack  in  the  discharge  of  their 
obligations  to  their  fellow-men,  he  would  in  all  kindness, 
but  with  skilful  decision,  as  their  soul's  physician,  give 
them  those  prescriptions  without  which  it  was  impossible 
for  their  souls  to  thrive.  Such  fidelity  and  freedom  on  his 
part,  so  far  from  alienating  their  affections,  did  but  endear 
him  to  them  the  more,  as  they  saw  his  affectionate  interest 
in  their  soul's  concerns,  and  felt  the  power  and  truth  of  the 
admonitions  which  he  gave.  And  then  these  admonitions 
were  often  blessed  of  God  to  tlie  great  comfort  and  edifi- 
cation of  the  people,  who  thus  found  in  their  own  happy 
experience  the  ineffable  \';iliie  of  a  faithful  pastor,  whom 
they  loved  even  when  he  came  to  wound. 


286  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

"The  children  were  called  in,  and  were  examined,  as  I 
have  hinted,  in  the  catechism,  in  which  they  were  regularly 
instructed  by  their  parents.  The  doctrines  therein  con- 
tained were  familiarly  explained,  and  the  young  were 
most  earnestly  persuaded  to  give  their  hearts  to  the 
Saviour,  while  yet  in  the  morning  of  their  days.  As  the 
congregation  was  widely  extended,  Mr.  Prime  would  give 
notice  on  the  Sabbath,  that  during  the  week  on  a  certain 
day,  he  would  visit  in  such  a  neighbourhood,  and  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  wished  the  families  in  that 
vicinity  to  assemble  at  a  house  named,  for  religious  con- 
versation and  prayer.  And  those  were  good  meetings, 
you  may  be  sure  ;  the  farmer^s  house  in  which  it  was  held 
would  be  filled  with  parents  and  children,  the  halls  and  the 
staircase  crowded  ;  a  little  stand,  with  a  Bible  and  Psalm- 
book,  would  be  set  for  the  minister  at  some  point  from 
which  his  voice  could  easily  be  heard  over  all  the  house, 
and  such  prayers  and  such  appeals  would  be  then  and 
there  made  as  the  Spirit  of  God  delights  to  attend  and 
bless.  How  many  tears  did  the  children  shed  in  those 
meetings  !  not  alarmed  by  terrible  words  of  coming  wrath, 
but  melted  with  the  pathos  of  gospel  love,  and  moved  by 
the  strong  appeals  of  that  holy  man.  Impressions,  I  know, 
were  made  at  those  meetings  that  eternity  will  only 
brighten  and  deepen,  as  the  memory  of  those  solemn,  yet 
happy  hours,  mingles  with  the  joy  of  immortal  bliss. 

"  The  efitects  of  this  ministry  were,  as  might  be  expected, 
immediate  and  permanent.  The  Word  of  the  Lord  had 
free  course  and  was  glorified.  The  young  grew  up  to 
manhood  with  strong  attachments  to  the  faith  of  their 
fathers,  the  members  of  the  Church  were  steadfast  in  their 
adherence  to  the  truth  as  they  had  received  it,  and  it  was 
rare  to  see  a  man  in  the  community  who  was  not  a  pro- 
fessor of  religion.  The  institutions  of  the  Gospel  com- 
manded the  respect  and  reverence  of  the  whole  people. 
Impiety  was  scarcely  known  in  the  town,  so  deep-settled 
and  wide-spread  was  this  regard  for  the  truths  of  God's 
Word  and  the  ordinances  of  His  house." 

CCCCLXXV.      The    Root.      Ezek.    xxxiv.    29.     '' I  will 

raise  up  for  them  a  plant  of  renown." 
A  SON  of  one  of  the  priests  of  Mysore,  who  had  been 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  287 

aroused,  by  reacHnj^  a  tract,  to  deep  anxiety  about  the  salva- 
tion of  lu's  soul,  travelled  nearly  two  hundred  miles  to  visit 
a  missionary  to  inquire  about  the  truth.  On  one  occasion 
he  was  much  interested  in  reading  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress."  He  said  several  times  to  the  missionary,  that 
it  was  better  than  the  Bible.  The  missionary  pointed  to 
the  scene  before  them  and  said,  "  Do  you  see  that  beautiful 
mango  tree  there  .-*  "  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  Don't  you  see 
its  beautiful  fruit,  eat  it,  and  enjoy  its  sweetness  .-•  "  "  Yes." 
"And  where  would  that  tree  be  if  there  was  no  root  to  it  ?" 
"  Oh,"  said  the  man,  "  now  I  see  what  you  mean  !  The 
Bible  is  the  root,  and  all  the  other  good  books  in  the  world 
are  produced  from  it." 

The  lesson  was  a  timely  one,  nor  should  we  ever  forget, 
while  enjoying  the  sweetness  of  some  work  which  the 
Christian  press  sends  forth,  that  the  Bible  is  the  root  from 
which  it  springs.  Plant  that  blessed  root  in  any  soul, 
and  by-and-by  the  sweet  fruit  of  Christian  literature  will 
appear.  Fail  to  plant  the  Bible,  and  we  shall  look  in  vain 
for  all  the  sweet  and  refreshing  fruits. 

CCCCLXXVI.     The    Power    of    a    Living    Bible. 

EzEK.  xxxvi.   27.     "  And  I  will  put  My  Spirit  within  you, 
and  cause  you  to  walk  in  My  statutes." 

Nowhere  is  it  more  true  than  in  the  Christian  life  that 
actions  speak  louder  than  words.  A  young  man  had 
become  an  infidel,  and  would  no  longer  read  the  printed 
Bible,  but  he  could  not  help  seeing  the  fruits  of  faith  in  the 
life  of  another. 

In  his  father's  house  a  young  lady  resided,  who  was  a 
relative  of  the  family.  Her  fretful  temper  made  all  around 
her  uncomfortable.  She  was  sent  to  a  boarding-school, 
and  was  absent  some  time.  While  there  she  became  a 
true  and  earnest  Christian.  On  her  return  she  was  so 
changed  that  all  who  knew  her  wondered  and  rejoiced. 
She  was  patient  and  cheerful,  kind,  unselfish,  and  charitable. 
The  lips  that  used  to  be  always  uttering  cross  and  bitter 
words  now  spoke  nothing  but  sweet,  gentle,  loving  words. 
Her  infidel  cousin  George  was  greatly  surprised  at  this. 
He  watched  her  closely  for  some  time,  till  he  was  thoroughly 
satisfied  that  it  was  a  real  change  that  had  taken  place  in 
his  young  cousin.     Then  he  asked  her  what  had  caused 


288  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

this  great  change.  She  told  him  it  was  the  grace  of  God 
which  had  made  her  a  Christian  and  had  changed  her 
heart. 

He  said  to  himself,  "I  don't  believe  that  God  has  any- 
thing to  do  with  it,  though  she  thinks  He  had.  But  it  is 
a  wonderful  change  that  has  taken  place  in  her,  and  I 
should  like  to  be  as  good  as  she  is.  I  zvill  be  so."  Then 
he  formed  a  set  of  good  resolutions.  He  tried  to  control 
his  tongue  and  his  temper,  and  kept  a  strict  watch  over 
himself.  He  was  all  the  time  doing  and  saying  what  he 
did  not  wish  to  do  and  say.  And,  as  he  failed  time  after 
time,  he  would  turn  and  study  his  good  cousin's  example. 
He  would  read  this  living  Bible,  and  said  to  himself,  "How 
does  it  happen  that  she,  who  has  not  as  much  knowledge 
or  as  much  strength  of  character  as  I  have,  can  do  what  I 
can't  do  }  She  must  have  some  help  that  I  don't  know  of. 
It  must  be  as  she  says,  the  help  of  God.  I  will  seek  that 
help."  He  went  into  his  chamber  and  prayed  to  that  God 
whose  very  existence  he  had  denied.  He  prayed  earnestly. 
God  heard  him,  helped  him,  and  he  became  a  Christian. 

CCCCLXXVII.     Human   Thought  and  Heavenly- 
Light.     Dan.  ii.  22.     "ZT^  revealeth  the  deep  a?id  secret 
tilings :   lie  kfwit'cth  what   is   in  the  darkness.,  and  the  light 
dwelldh  -tvith  Him" 
Shortly  before  his  death,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  fell   into 
a  state  of  profound  and  rapturous  contemplation,  and  on 
coming  to  himself,  he  did  not  sit  down  to  his  desk,   nor 
would  he  dictate  anything,  although  he  was  still  engaged 
on  part  of  his  famous  "  Summary." 

Even  his  nearest  friends,  who  knew  him  intimately, 
could  not  account  for  this.  At  last  his  secretary  said, 
"  My  father,  why  hast  thou  cast  on  one  side  so  great  a 
work  which  thou  didst  begin  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
illumination  of  the  world  } "  All  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
replied  was,  "  Non  possum," — "I  cannot  write  any  more." 
Being  constantly  implored  to  continue  writing,  the  saint 
ever  made  the  same  reply,  "  I  cannot,  for  everything  that 
I  have  written  appears  to  me  as  simply  rubbish." 

So  in  proportion  to  the  clearness  of  vision  must  ever 
seem  the  noblest  reaches  of  human  thought,  compared  with 
the  heavenly  light, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  289 

CCCCLXXVIII.       Able    to    Deliver.        Dan.   iii.   17. 
'•  Our  God  who  in  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver." 

A  BOAT  was  once  seen  driving  on  along  the  rapid  that 
hurries  to  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  To  the  horror  of  some 
that  watched  it  from  the  shore,  they  saw  one  aboard,  and 
asleep.  They  ran,  they  shouted,  they  cried.  The  sleeper 
woke,  and  at  one  wild  glance  took  in  all  his  danger.  Yet 
what  won't  a  man  do  for  his  life  !  To  seize  the  oars,  to 
pull  her  head  round  to  the  shore,  was  the  work  of  an 
instant.  With  death  in  the  thunders  of  the  cataract 
roaring  loud  and  louder  in  his  ear,  how  he  pulled  !  It  was 
cruel  to  waken  him  ;  there  was  no  hope,  unless  God  had 
sent  down  the  eagle  that  was  sailing  overhead  to  bear  him 
away  upon  her  wings  ;  the  wild  waters  shot  him  like  an 
arrow  to  the  brink.  As  near  hell  as  that,  you  may  be 
saved — plucked  from  the  very  brink  of  ruin. 

CCCCLXXIX.  In  the  Furnace.  Dan.  iii.  25.  ''He 
answered  and  said,  Lo,  I  see  four  men  loose,  tvalking  in  the 
midst  of  tJie  fire,  and  tJiey  have  no  hurt;  and  the  form  of  the 
fourth  is  like  the  Son  of  God.''' 

Blandina  was  one  of  the  early  Christian  martyrs  at  Lyons, 
in  the  year  177  A.D.  They  roasted  her  on  a  red-hot  iron 
chair,  put  her  in  a  net,  and  exposed  her  to  the  horns  of  the 
wildest  oxen  ;  whirled  her  in  instruments  of  torture  till  her 
senses  were  lost,  and  then  plunged  her  into  flames  ;  and 
day  after  day  did  that,  while  she  apparently  experienced 
little  pain,  calling  out  at  every  interval  when  her  strength 
came  back  :  "  I  am  a  believer  in  the  Father,  the  Son,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  one  God,  who  is  with  me.  There  is  no 
evil  done  among  us.  I  am  a  Christian."  And  so  she 
passed  hence,  but  speaks  to  us  as  one  yet  living. 

CCCCLXXX.  "Near  Christ,  near  the  Fire." 
Dan.  iii.  25.  "  Lo,  I  see  four  men  loose,  ivalking  in  the 
midst  of  the  fire,  and  they  have  tio  hurt;  and  tlie  form  of  the 
fourtJi  is  like  the  Son  of  God." 

A  PREACHER  has  said,  speaking  on  the  subject  of  the  good 
effects  of  trial,  "  If  it  be  true,  according   to  a  fine  sa}-ing 

U 


290  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

current  in  the  Apostolic  Church,  that  to  be  'near  Christ' 
is  to  be  'near  the  fire,'  it  is  also  true  that  to  be  /«  the 
fire  is  to  be  with  Christ  ;  and  if  we  are  in  the  furnace  with 
the  Son  of  man,  the  fire  will  not  consume,  but  purge  and 
refine." 

CCCCLXXXI.     An   Old    Martyr  for    Christ.     Dan. 

iii.  21.  "  T/icn  these  men  ivere  bound  in  their  coats,  their  hosen, 
and  their  hats,  and  their  other  garments,  and  were  cast  into 
the  midst  of  the  burning  fiery  furnace." 

Rawlins  White,  an  old  martyr,  was  very  decrepid,  and 
for  years  he  had  been  bowed  almost  double,  and  could 
hardly  walk  ;  but  he  was  condemned  to  death,  and  on  his 
way  to  the  stake,  we  are  told,  the  bonds  of  his  body  seemed 
to  break,  and  he  roused  himself  up  as  straight  and  exu- 
berant as  an  athlete,  and  walked  to  the  fire  singing  victory 
over  the  flames.  Ah,  it  was  the  joy  of  dying  for  Jesus  that 
straightened  his  body,  and  roused  his  soul! 

CCCCLXXXII.     An  Innovation.     Dan.  iii.  22.     "The 
King's  commandment  was  urgent" 

John  Wesley  received  many  of  his  most  remarkable  traits 
from  his  mother.  He  had  the  same  regard  for  order  and 
authority,  and  yet  the  same  readiness  to  follow  up  an 
opportunity  in  defiance  of  all  precedent. 

Mrs.  Wesley,  loving  order  and  sticking  by  formal  rule 
as  she  did,  could  act  a  very  bold  and  independent  part 
once  she  was  certain  that  conscience  spoke  clear  in  her 
breast.  When  the  rector  was  away  on  one  of  his  more 
lengthened  absences  at  Convocation,  she  had  gathered  her 
children  and  the  servants  together  to  read  and  converse 
with  them  on  the  Sunday  afternoon.  The  neighbours 
soon  heard  of  it,  and  many  of  them  wished  to  join  the 
circle  at  the  rectory.  The  numbers  mcreased,  till  at  last 
not  a  few  had  to  go  away  from  want  of  space.  The  rector 
had  been  advised  of  the  innovation  by  the  curate,  and 
wrote  to  his  wife  that  her  conduct  was  singular,  and 
counselled  greater  prudence.  But  the  wife  was  able  to  give 
a  reason  for  her  course  : — 

"  I  cannot   conceive  why  any  should   reflect  on  you  be- 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  291 

cause  your  wife  endeavours  to  draw  people  to  church,  and 
to  restrain  them  from  profaning  the  Lord's  Day,  by  reading 
to  them  and  other  persuasions.  For  my  part,  I  value  no 
censure  on  this  account.  I  have  long  since  shook  hands 
with  the  world,  and  I  heartily  wish  I  had  never  given  them 
more  occasion  to  speak  against  me.  As  to  its  looking 
particular,  I  grant  it  does.  And  so  does  almost  everything 
that  is  serious,  or  that  may  any  way  advance  the  glory  of 
God  or  the  salvation  of  souls,  if  it  be  performed  out  of  a 
pulpit,  or  in  the  way  of  common  conversation  ;  because  in 
our  corrupt  age  the  utmost  care  and  diligence  has  been 
used  to  banish  all  discourse  of  God,  or  spiritual  concerns, 
out  of  society,  as  if  religion  were  never  to  appear  out  of  the 
closet,  and  we  were  to  be  ashamed  of  nothing  so  much  as 
of  confessing  ourselves  to  be  Christians. 

"  As  for  the  proposal  of  letting  some  other  person  read, 
alas !  you  don't  consider  what  a  people  these  are.  I  don't 
think  one  man  among  them  could  read  a  sermon  without 
spelling  a  good  part  of  it.  Nor  has  any  of  our  family  a. 
voice  strong  enough  to  be  heard  by  such  a  number  of 
people. 

"But  there  is  one  thing  about  which  I  am  much  dis- 
satisfied ;  that  is,  their  being  present  at  family  prayers.  I 
don't  speak  of  any  concern  I  am  under,  merely  because  so 
many  are  present.  For  those  w^ho  have  the  honour  of 
speaking  to  the  great  and  holy  God  need  not  be  ashamed 
to  speak  before  the  whole  world  ;  but  because  of  my  sex  I 
doubt  if  it  is  proper  for  me  to  present  the  prayers  of  the 
people  to  God.  Last  Sunday  I  would  fain  have  dismissed 
them  before  prayers  ;  but  they  begged  so  earnestly  to  stay, 
I  durst  not  deny  them." 

After  having  stated  all  her  reasons  in  justification  of  the 
course  she  had  taken,  she  wound  up  with  these  character- 
istic words  :  "  If  you  do,  after  all,  think  fit  to  dissolve  this 
assembly,  do  not  tell  me  you  desire  me  to  do  it,  for  that 
will  not  satisfy  my  conscience  ;  but  send  me  your  positive 
coninmtid,  in  such  full  and  express  terms  as  may  absolve 
me  from  guilt  and  punishment  for  neglecting  the  op- 
portunity of  doing  good,  when  you  and  I  shall  appear 
before  the  great  and  awful  tribunal  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 


292  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCCLXXXIII.  Suggestions  to  the  Sick.  Dan. 
vi.  35.  "ZT^  doefh  according  to  His  will  in  the  army  of  heaven, 
and  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  :  and  fione  can  stay  Hi:, 
ha?td,  or  say  laito  Him,  What  doest  Thou  ?  " 

Ellice  Hopkins  tells  the  following  story  in  speaking  of 
some  practical  suggestions  to  the  sick.  "  We  deal  with 
the  sick  too  exclusively  religiously,  or,  as  I  would  rather 
say,  too  narrowly,  since  God  is  the  God  of  all  consolation. 
We  say  to  them,  with  sinking  heart  and  tears  in  our  eyes, 
'  It  is  God's  will,  and  you  must  bear  your  burden '  ;  but  we 
forget  the  ropes  and  pulleys  and  levers  which  might,  with 
a  little  contrivance  on  our  part,  help  to  lift  it — all  the 
helps  to  bearing  it — which  may  be  also  in  God's  will.  As 
an  instance  of  what  I  mean,  I  may  take  the  case  of  one 
my  father  loved  almost  as  a  son.  As  a  young  man,  with 
splendid  abilities  and  a  brilliant  career  just  opening  before 
him,  he  was  suddenly  shot  stone  blind,  not  through  any 
carelessness  on  the  part  of  him  who  did  it,  but  owing  to  his 
being,  in  the  eagerness  of  a  sportsman,  a  little  out  of  the 
proper  line.  His  life  thus  suddenly  plunged  into  darkness, 
for  days  he  remained  completely  prostrate.  Doubtless 
those  around  him  spoke  to  him  of  the  love  of  God  and 
submission  to  His  will  ;  but  it  seemed  impossible  to  raise 
him  up  out  of  the  darkness  within  and  without  that  had 
fallen  upon  him.  The  first  thing  that  roused  him  was  a 
letter  from  my  father.  I  had  often  wondered  what  it  was 
in  that  letter  that  succeeded  when  all  else  failed,  and  many 
years  after  it  came  into  my  hands,  having  been  carefully 
preserved  in  the  family.  It  too  spoke  of  submission  to  the 
will  of  God,  but  the  main  part  of  the  letter  was  taken  up 
in  carefully  pointing  out  all  that  great  powers  of  mind,  even 
with  the  drawback  of  blindness,  could  accomplish,  the 
branches  of  sdience  which  required,  for  further  development, 
the  abstract  thought  to  which  blindness  would  be  favour- 
able ;  the  lines  of  political  life  to  which  it  would  be  no 
impediment.  Submission  to  God's  will  was  enforced,  but  the 
helps  to  realizing  it  as  a  loving  will  at  the  same  time  care- 
fully suggested.  He  to  whom  that  letter  was  addressed  is 
now  one  of  our  leading  men." 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  293 


CCCCLXXXIV.  Touching  God  in  Prayer.  Dan. 
vi.  10.  "  He  kneeled  upon  his  knees  three  times  a  day,  and 
prayed,  and  gave  thanks  before  his  God,  as  he  did  aforetime." 

There  is  an  old  story  of  mythology  about  a  giant,  named 
Antffius,  who  was  born  by  the  earth.  In  order  to  keep 
alive,  this  giant  was  obliged  to  touch  the  earth  as  often  as 
once  in  five  minutes,  and  every  time  he  thus  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  earth  he  became  twice  as  strong  as  before. 
The  Christian  resembles  Antaeus.  In  order  to  be  a  living 
Christian,  he  must  often  approach  his  heavenly  Father  in 
prayer ;  and  every  time  he  thus  approaches,  he  becomes 
stronger  and  more  able  to  resist  the  wiles  and  assaults  of 
the  adversary. 

CCCCLXXXV.  Religion  a  Thing  for  Every 
Day.  Dan.  vi.  20.  "  Thy  God,  whom  thou  servest  con- 
tinually." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher,  speaking  of  taking  religion 
into  the  week,  says :  "  The  tides  come  twice  a  day  in  New 
York  harbour,  but  they  only  come  once  in  seven  days  in 
God's  harbour  of  the  sanctuary.  They  rise  on  Sunday, 
but  ebb  on  Monday,  and  are  down  and  out  all  the  week. 
Men  write  over  their  store  door,  '  Business  is  business,' 
and  over  the  church  door,  '  Religion  is  religion ' ;  and  they 
say  to  religion,  '  Never  come  in  here,'  and  to  business, 
'  Never  go  in  there.  Let  us  have  no  secular  things  in 
the  pulpit.  Here  we  want  repose,  and  sedatives  and 
healing  balm  ;  we  have  enough  of  knives  and  probes  and 
lancets  in  the  week.  Here  let  us  have  poetry  ;  we  want 
to  sing  hymns  and  to  hear  about  heaven.'  God's  law  is 
not  allowed  to  go  into  the  week.  If  the  merchant  spies  it 
in  the  store,  he  throws  it  over  the  counter.  If  it  is  found 
in  the  street,  the  multitudes  pursue  it,  pelting  it  with  stones, 
as  if  it  were  a  wolf  escaped  from  a  menagerie,  and  shouting, 
'  Back  with  you  !  you  have  got  out  of  Sunday.'  There  is 
no  religion  in  all  this.  It  is  mere  sentimentalism.  Re- 
ligion belongs  to  every  day.  High  in  an  ancient  belfry 
there  is  a  clock,  and  once  a  week  the  old  sexton  winds  it 
up  ;  but  it  has  neither  dial-plate  nor  hands.  The  pen- 
dulum swings,  and  there  it  goes  ticking,  ticking,  day  in,  day 


294  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

out,  unnoticed  and  useless.  What  the  old  clock  is  in  its 
dark  chamber,  keeping  time  to  itself,  but  never  showing  it, 
that  is  the  mere  sentimentality  of  religion,  high  above  life,  in 
the  region  of  airy  thought,  perched  up  in  the  top  of  Sunday, 
but  without  dial  or  point  to  let  the  people  know  what 
o'clock  it  is,  of  time  or  eternity  1 " 


CCCCLXXXVI.      The    Light    of    Eternity.      Dan. 

xii.  2.  "  And  viany  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the 
earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  sotne  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt." 

Michael  Angelo  once  went  into  the  studio  of  a  young 
artist  who  had  just  executed  a  statue  to  stand  in  the  public 
square.  Angelo  saw  its  grave  defects,  and  pointed  them 
out  to  his  young  friend.  The  exultant  artist  did  not  appre- 
ciate the  criticism  of  his  work,  and  supposed  the  greater 
man  to  be  moved  with  envy.  So  he  told  him,  in  the  dim 
obscurity  of  his  workshop  he  could  not  see  the  defects 
which  were  so  apparent  to  the  aged  critic,  and  in  passion 
sneered  at  the  opinion  given.  "Well,"  said  Angelo,  not 
the  least  disturbed,  "  the  light  of  the  public  square  will 
test  it." 

"  The  light  of  the  public  square  will  test  it."  Ah,  yes  ! 
The  light  of  the  public  square  is  to  test  every  human  life. 
Eternal  blaze  shall  pour  upon  it,  and  defects  unseen  by 
the  poorer  light  of  earth  will  grow  to  ghastly  deformities. 
The  light  of  the  public  square  will  test  it ! 


CCCCLXXXVII.      "Some  to  Everlasting  Life." 

Dan.  xii.  2.  "  And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of 
the  earth  shall  aivake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to 
shame  and  everlasting  coJitempt." 

There  is  an  Eastern  story  of  the  "Amreeta  water  of 
Immortality,"  which,  when  drunk  by  the  impure,  ran 
through  their  veins  in  the  liquid  fire  of  unspeakable  agony  ; 
but,  when  drunk  by  the  pure,  this  water  spread  through 
their  whole  being  the  glow  of  eternal  life  and  peace. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  295 


CCCCLXXXVIII.       An     Awakening.       Dan.    xii.    2. 

'■'■And  many  of  iJwm  that  sleep  in  t/te  dust  of  the  earth  shall 
a7vake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  atid  some  to  shatne  and  ever- 
lasting contempt." 

A  YOUNG  somnambulist  got  out  of  her  garret  window 
upon  the  roof  and,  in  the  sight  of  a  silent  and  trembling 
crowd,  walked  up  and  down  the  giddy  height,  dreaming 
perhaps  of  a  coming  festival,  for  she  kept  smiling  and  mur- 
muring her  gay  songs.  They  were  powerless  to  help  her, 
and  held  their  breath  in  very  horror  as  she  sometimes 
approached  the  edge.  Suddenly  a  little  candle  was  lit  in 
an  opposite  window  and  flashed  upon  her  eyes.  She  woke, 
and  there  was  a  scream  and  a  deadly  fall.  It  had  killed 
her! 


CCCCLXXXIX.  God's  Care  of  His  People. 
Hos.  ii.  18,  "And  in  that  day  I  will  make  a  covenant  Jor 
them  with  the  beasts  of  the  field." 

John  Hughes  was  a  most  holy,  devoted  man,  and  greatly 
beloved,  and  his  name  is  held  in  honour  wherever  he  was 
known.  As  superintendent  minister  of  a  circuit,  he  had 
to  visit  three  congregations,  administer  the  Lord's  Supper 
in  each,  and  return  to  preach  in  the  evening  at  Wre.xham. 
He  left  in  good  time  in  the  morning.  When  not  far  on 
his  journey  he  saw  a  large,  fierce-looking  dog  following 
him.  But  neither  stones  nor  scolding  would  make  it  go 
away.  When  he  had  gone  into  the  pulpit  he  saw  the  dog 
lie  down  quietly  by  the  side  of  it.  So  it  did  to  the  second 
and  third  chapels.  On  Mr.  Hughes'  return  home  he  was 
waylaid  by  two  men,  who  demanded  his  purse.  Mr. 
Hughes  felt  he  could  not  contend  with  the  two  powerful 
men,  but  on  whistling  the  dog  was  at  once  at  his  side,  and 
furiously  attacked  the  would-be  robbers.  They  took  to 
their  heels,  and  Mr.  Hughes  walked  on  unmoksted  till  he 
reached  town,  when  the  dog  left  him,  and  he  saw  it  no 
more.  Mr.  Hughes  never  spoke  of  this  incident  but  in  a 
spirit  of  astonishment  and  gratitude. 


296  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCCXC.      A    Personal    God.      Hos.  v.  15.     "/«  their 
affliction  they  will  seek  Me  early." 

A  LEADER  of  thought  in  Germany,  famous  as  a  poet,  famous 
as  a  man  of  letters,  who  had  through  his  long  literary 
career  fought  against  the  idea  of  a  personal  God,  when 
poor  in  purse,  paralytic  in  body,  and  in  his  last  week  of  life, 
wrote  thus  to  one  of  his  old  class-mates,  and  under  its  style 
of  banter  there  is  a  pathetic  minor  tone  of  earnest  feeling  : — 
"  A  religious  reaction  has  set  in  upon  me  for  some  time. 
God  knows  whether  the  morphine  or  the  poultices  have 
anything  to  do  with  it.  It  is  so.  I  believe  in  a  personal 
God.  To  this  we  come  when  we  are  sick  to  death  and 
broken  down.  Do  not  make  a  crime  of  it.  If  the  German 
people  accept  the  personal  king  of  Prussia  in  their  need, 
why  should  not  I  accept  a  personal  God  .''  My  friend,  here 
is  a  great  truth.  When  health  is  used  up,  money  used  up, 
and  sound  senses  used  up,  Christianity  begins." 

CCCCXCI.     Go  on,  Go  on.    Hos.vi.  3.     '' Then  shall  we 

know,  if  we  follow  on  to  know  the  Lord." 

Arago  says,  in  his  Autobiography,  that  his  master  in 
mathematics  was  a  word  or  two  of  advice  which  he  found 
in  the  binding  of  one  of  his  text-books.  Puzzled  and  dis- 
couraged by  the  difficulties  he  met  with  in  liis  early  studies, 
he  was  almost  ready  to  give  over  the  pursuit.  Some  words 
which  he  found  on  the  waste  leaf  used  to  stiffen  the  cover 
of  his  paper-bound  text-book  caught  his  eye  and  interested 
him.  "  Impelled,"  he  says,  "  by  an  indefinable  curiosity,  I 
dampened  the  cover  of  the  book  and  carefully  unrolled  the 
leaf  to  see  what  was  on  the  other  side.  It  proved  to  be  a 
.short  letter  from  D'Alembert  to  a  }oung  person  disheart- 
ened like  myself  by  the  difficulties  of  mathematical  study, 
and  who  had  written  to  him  for  counsel.  '  Go  on,  sir,  go 
on,'  was  the  counsel  which  D'Alembert  gave  him.  '  The 
difficulties  you  meet  will  resolve  themselves  as  you  advance. 
Proceed,  and  light  will  dawn  and  shine  with  increasing 
clearness  on  your  path.' 

"  That  maxim,"  says  Arago,  "  was  my  greatest  master  in 
mathematics."  Following  out  those  simple  words,  "  Go  on, 
sir,  go  on,"  made  him  the  first  astronomical  mathematician 
of  his  age.     What  Christians  it  would  make  of  us  I  what 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  297 

heroes  of  faith  !  what  sages  in  holy  wisdom  should  we  be- 
come, just  by  acting  out  that  maxim,  Go  on,  go  on  ! 

CCCCXCII.  Prayers  Set  Aside  with  Physic 
Bottles.  Hos.  vi.  4.  "  Yoiir  }:;oodness  is  as  the  morning 
cloud,  and  as  the  early  de7v  it  goeth  away." 

"A  COUPLE  of  men,  in  a  crazy  craft,  being  caught  in  a  squall, 
betook  themselves,  one  to  praying  to  the  Virgin,  and  the 
other  to  poling  toward  the  shore.  Soon  the  latter  touched 
bottom,  and  turning  to  his  devout  comrade,  said  :  '  What's 
the  use  of  praying  when  you  can  touch  the  bottom  with 
the  pole  ? '  So  say  multitudes  by  their  conduct,  who  would 
not,  for  the  world,  say  anything  so  ludicrous  by  word.  The 
only  difference  is,  that  they  are  not  half  so  truthful  in  ex- 
pressing themselves  as  bold  unbelievers  are,  but  their  piety 
is  of  no  higher  type.  Such  persons  act  towards  the  Divine 
Helper  as  they  do  towards  their  physician — turn  to  him 
when  they  can  find  no  possibility  of  helping  themselves. 
Many  have  no  use  for  ministers — unless  it  may  be  to  ridi- 
cule them  and  their  work — until  they  are  smitten  with 
disease;  and  when  their  cases  become  too  desperate  for  the 
skill  of  the  doctor,  they  send  post-haste  for  the  minister, 
and  without  reference  to  either  time  or  convenience,  he 
must  come.  As  they  have  never  had  any  use  for  him  be- 
fore, so  much  the  more  necessary  that  he  should  be  at  their 
call  now,  to  pray  them  up  on  their  feet  again. 

"  We  had  occasion  to  rebuke  one  of  this  kind,  whose  stock 
of  wit  consisted  in  low  sneers  at  ministers  and  their  work. 
Not  long  after  he  became  very  sick.  The  doctors  said  he 
would  die.  He  sent  for  us  ('because,'  he  said,  'we  had 
been  faithful  in  our  rebuke,')  to  administer  to  his  spiritual 
wants,  which  could  be  summed  up  in  one  sentence — he  did 
not  want  to  burn.  He  made  great  promises  ;  one  that  he 
would  give  five  hundred  dollars  to  our  Church — though  he 
did  not  say  so,  the  inference  was  clear — if  we  either  got 
him  well  or  in  heaven.  Unaccountable  to  tell,  he  got  well. 
Our  prayers  were  not  so  refreshing  with  returning  health. 
They  were  set  aside  with  the  physic  bottles.  Soon  he 
avoided  us.  He  never  spoke  of  the  five  hundred  dollars  ; 
he  would  neither  pay  nor  pray,  since  he  could  '  touch  the 
bottom  with   the   pole,'     At  last  we  asked  him   for  the 


298  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

money  he  had  promised  the  Church.  He  became  angry, 
and  compromised  on  one  hundred  dollars. 

"A  father  came  to  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
in  great  distress,  with  a  request  that  prayer  should  be  offered 
for  his  son,  who  was  lying  dangerously  ill.  It  was  a  sur- 
prise to  learn  that  the  father  did  not  profess  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian, and  great  hopes  were  entertained  that  he  would  be. 
He  came  to  church  several  evenings,  and  his  son  recovered. 
But  he  has  never  been  heard  of  since.  *  What  is  the  use 
of  praying  when  you  can  touch  the  bottom  with  the  pole .'"' 

CCCCXCIII.     A  Choice  of  Three  Sins.     Hos.  xiii.  2. 

'■''And  now  they  sin  fnore  and  more." 

There  is  a  story  which  tells  of  a  man  who  had  the  choice 
of  three  sins  he  would  commit — drunkenness,  adultery,  or 
murder.  He  chose  drunkenness  as  being  apparently  the 
least  ;  but  when  intoxicated  he  committed  both  the  other 
sins,  and  so  became  guilty  of  all  three.  One  sin  leads  to 
another,  and  is  like  the  letting  in  of  water. 

CCCCXCIV.     Death   a  Bed   to   the  Weary.     Hos. 
xiii.  14.     '''■I  will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of  the  grave." 

The  martyr  Renwick  had  a  weakly  constitution  at  the 
best,  and  his  incessant  labours,  aggravated  as  they  were 
by  exposure  and  sleepless  anxiety,  ere  long  wore  him  out, 
so  that  even  his  undaunted  spirit  was  sometimes  wrapped 
in  gloomy  clouds.  His  letters,  as  time  went  on,  expressed 
an  increasing  sense  of  weariness,  but  continued  to  be 
brightened  by  beams  of  heavenly  faith  and  hope. 

In  1687  he  writes  to  Sir  Robert  Hamilton  : — "My  busi- 
ness was  never  so  weighty,  so  multiplied,  and  so  ill  to  be 
guided,  to  my  apprehension,  as  it  has  been  this  year,  and 
my  body  was  never  so  frail.  Excessive  travel,  night  wan- 
derings, unseasonable  sleep  and  diet,  and  frequent  preach- 
ing in  all  seasons  of  weather,  especially  in  the  night,  have 
so  debilitated  me  that  I  am  often  incapable  for  any  work. 
I  find  myself  greatly  weakened  inwardly,  so  that  I  some- 
times fall  into  fits  of  swooning  and  fainting.  I  take  seldom 
any  meat  or  drink,  but  it  fights  with  my  stomach  ;  and  for 
strong  drink  I  can  take  almost  none  of  it.  When  I  use 
means  for  my  recovery,  I  find  it  some  ways  effectual ;  but 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  299 

my  desire  to  the  work,  and  the  necessity  and  importunity 
of  peoi:)lc,  prompt  me  to  do  more  than  my  natural  strength 
will  well  allow,  and  to  undertake  such  toilsome  business 
as  casts  my  body  presently  down  again.  I  mention  not 
this  through  any  anxiety,  quarrelling,  or  discontent,  but  to 
show  you  my  condition  in  this  respect.  I  may  say  that, 
under  all  my  frailties  and  distempers,  I  find  great  peace 
and  sweetness  in  reflecting  upon  the  occasion  thereof.  It 
is  a  part  of  my  glory  and  joy  to  bear  such  infirmities,  con- 
tracted through  my  poor  and  small  labour  in  my  Master's 
vineyard." 

No  wonder  that,  when  the  sentence  of  death  came,  it 
raised  no  perturbation  in  Renwick's  soul.  Life  had  no 
attraction  for  him,  death  had  no  terror  ;  the  only  comforts 
that  had  sustained  his  soul  for  five  long  years  were  beams 
of  heavenly  light  sent  down  into  the  darkness  out  of  that 
world  into  which  death  would  immediately  introduce  him. 
His  patient  continuance  in  his  overwhelming  labours  suffi- 
ciently declared  his  willingness  to  abide  in  the  flesh  if  such 
were  the  Master's  will,  but  we  can  well  believe  that  he  was 
willing  rather  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ.  "  I  go,"  he 
wrote  to  the  same  correspondent,  on  the  eve  of  his  execu- 
tion, "  I  GO  TO  YOUR  God  and  my  God.     Death  to  me 

IS   AS   A   BED   to   THE   WEARY." 


CCCCXCV.      When    does    a    Tree    Grow?      Hos. 

xiv.  5.     "/«////  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel:  he  shall  grow  as 
the  lily:' 

A  short  time  ago  a  gentleman  was  preaching  in  the 
open  air ;  his  subject  was  "  Growth  in  Grace."  At  the 
close  of  the  meeting  a  man  approached  him  and  said  :  "Our 
minister  has  been  preaching  some  excellent  sermons  on 
that  subject,  and  I  have  been  trying  to  grow  in  grace  this 
long  time,  but  I  find  I  never  can  succeed."  The  preacher, 
pointing  to  a  tree,  said,  "  Do  you  see  that  tree.-'"  "Yes," 
was  the  wondering  reply.  "  Well,  it  had  to  be  planted 
before  it  could  grow.  In  like  manner  you  must  be  rooted 
and  grounded  in  Christ  before  you  can  begin  to  grow." 
The  man  understood  his  meaning,  and  went  away  to  find 
Christ  ;  and  soon  he  was  rooted  in  Christ,  and  brought 
forth  fruit  to  His  praise. 


300  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

CCCCXCVI.  Growth.  Hos.  xiv.  6.  ''His  branches 
shall  spread,  and  his  beauty  shall  be  as  the  olive  tree,  and  his 
stnell  as  Lebanon. " 

Have  you  ever  noticed  that  the  trees  nearest  the  Hght  at 
the  edge  of  the  wood  have  larger  branches  than  those  in 
the  interior  of  the  forest,  and  the  same  tree  will  throw  out 
a  long  branch  toward  the  light,  and  a  short  one  toward  the 
obscurity  of  the  forest.  Just  so  a  man  grows  towards  the 
light  to  which  he  turns.  According  to  the  direction  in 
which  he  turns  with  supreme  affection,  he  grows. 

CCCCXCVII.     Critical  Times  in  Life.     Joel  iii.  14. 

"  Multitudes,  multitudes  in  the  valley  of  decision.''^ 

It  has  been  well  said  that  in  every  life  there  is  a  turning- 
point,  as  in  a  fever,  a  turning-point  that  brings  either 
life  or  death.  Napoleon  said  :  "  In  every  battle  there  are 
ten  minutes  on  which  hangs  the  fate  of  nations."  Hun- 
dreds of  soul's  battles  are  fought  and  won  in  a  few  minutes. 
Unspeakably  solemn  are  the  silence  and  quickness  with 
which  these  spiritual  battles  are  fought. 

CCCCXCVIII.      Two   Rivers.      Amos  iii.  3.     "  Can  two 
walk  together,  except  they  be  agreed  7  " 

The  Rhone,  as  it  issues  from  the  lake  of  Geneva  and 
rushes  on  its  arrowy  flight,  is  the  most  beautiful  of  rivers 
—  green  as  an  emerald,  yet  as  clear  as  clearest  glass  ;  so 
that  the  pebbles  on  the  bottom,  where  it  is  twelve  feet 
deep,  are  as  distinctly  seen  as  if  they  were  lying  at  one's 
feet. 

The  Arve — a  river  of  about  the  same  size,  and  flowing 
for  some  distance  nearly  parallel  with  the  Rhine  and  but 
a  little  way  from  it — is  a  dirty  stream,  carrying  with  it  the 
wash  of  the  mountains  and  the  mud  of  the  valley. 

About  two  miles  below  Geneva  these  two  rivers  unite, 
and  flow  together  toward  the  sea.  But,  though  joined  in 
one  channel,  they  are  still  for  several  miles  almost  as 
distinct  as  when  they  occupied  their  separate  beds.  The 
beautiful  Rhone  keeps  its  green  clearness  on  its  own  side 
of  the  channel,  while  the  Arve  flows  as  turbid  as  ever,  from 
the  middle  to  the  farther  shore. 

So  two  discordant  characters,  thrown  together  by  cir- 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  301 

cuinstanccs,  often  maintain  each  its  own  peculiarities  ;  and 
neither  is  the  wicked  sanctified  by  the  just,  nor  the  righteous 
contaminated  by  the  unfortunate  association.  In  many  a 
family  the  godless  husband  goes  his  own  worldly  way, 
while  the  pious  wife  lives  only  nearer  the  Cross  because 
she  cannot  enter  into  her  husband's  heart. 

But,  some  miles  below  the  junction,  the  river  rushes  into 
a  chasm  beneath  a  mountain.  When  it  issues  on  the  farther 
side  it  is  one  river— called  the  Rhone,  but  in  character  the 
Arve.  The  emerald  lost,  the  purity  gone,  it  is  just  a  com- 
mon river  after  the  common  pattern — opaque  and  muddy 
from  shore  to  shore. 

So,  often — so, generally — "evil  communications  corrupt 
good  manners." 

A  few  days  ago,  I  went  with  friends  to  the  junction,  to 
see  the  famous  uniting  without  commingling  of  waters. 
The  rivers  were  both  unusually  low  within  their  banks,  and 
to  our  surprise  the  Arve  was  very  nearly  or  quite  as  clear 
as  the  Rhone.  They  met  and  were  not  to  be  distinguished 
in  their  common  channel.  My  friends,  who  had  been 
there  very  often,  assured  me  that  they  had  never  seen  it 
so  before,  that  to  them  it  was  a  phenomenon  as  strange  as 
the  ordinary  appearance  would  have  been  to  me. 

Ah  !  It  was  not  the  first  time  that  a  muddy  character 
has  appeared  temporarily  as  clear  and  fair  as  the  purest. 
Even  Satan  sometimes  appears  as  an  angel  of  light.  It 
will  not  always  do  to  judge  by  present  appearances.  Wait 
until  the  rains  come.  "  When  affliction  or  persecution 
ariseth,  immediately  they  are  offended."  It  must  be  a  sad 
character,  indeed,  which  is  not  amiable  when  its  possesser 
has  his  own  way.  And  it  must  be  a  very  bad  man  who 
cannot  conduct  himself  respectably  for  a  little  while, — 
especially  if  he  have  his  own  purpose  to  serve  in  so  doing. 
Let  those  who  may  be  tempted  to  decide  hastily  in  regard 
to  a  life-long  companionship  remember  that  even  the  Arve 
is  not  always  muddy. 

CCCCXCIX.  Minds  like  Sieves.  Joel  iii.  12,  13. 
"  Let  the  healheii  be  wakened.  Put  ye  in  the  sickle,  for  the 
harvest  is  ripe." 

A  SIMPLE  Hindoo  woman   went   to   receive   her   weekly 


302  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

Bible  lesson,  when  the  lady  missionary  found  that  she  had 
remembered  but  little  of  what  she  had  taught  her  the  week 
before.  Being  discouraged,  she  said,  "  It  seems  no  use 
teaching  you  anything  ;  you  forget  all  I  tell  you.  Your 
mind  is  just  like  a  sieve  :  as  fast  as  I  pour  water  in,  it  runs 
out  again." 

The  woman  looked  up  at  the  lady  missionary  and  said, 
"  Yes,  it  is  very  true  ;  my  mind  is  just  like  a  sieve.  I  am 
very  sorry  I  forget  so  much  ;  but  then,  you  know,  when 
you  pour  clean  water  into  a  sieve,  though  it  all  runs  out 
again,  yet  it  makes  the  sieve  clean.  I  am  sorry  I  have 
forgotten  so  much  of  what  you  told  me  last  week  ;  but 
what  you  did  tell  me  made  my  mind  clean,  and  I  have 
come  again  to-day." 

The  missionaries  at  home  and  abroad  go  on  pouring 
water  into  these  sieves ;  and  tliough  it  runs  away  and 
seems  to  be  unprofitably  spilled  upon  the  ground,  yet  the 
private,  the  domestic,  the  public,  and  the  national  life  of 
the  people  is  the  cleaner  for  it. 

D.  Honouring  the  Sabbath.  Amos  viii,  5.  ^'When 
will  the  nerv  moon  be  gone,  that  we  may  sell  corn  ?  and  the 
Sabbath,  that  we  may  set  forth  wheat  i  " 

In  1633  the  town  of  Taunton  had  a  good  Puritan  pastor 
in  Mr,  George  Newton.  He  was  the  great  light  of  its 
Puritanism,  and  was  Vicar  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene. 
Though  naturally  timid,  "  strength  was  made  perfect  in 
weakness,"  and  he  was  not  timid  in  the  assertion  of  his 
principles,  and  soon  became  a  noted  "gospeller."  When 
the  "  Book  of  Sports  "  came  out  by  order  of  Council,  and 
was  commanded  to  be  read  in  all  the  churches,  Mr.  Newton 
read  it,  but  said  immediately  to  his  congregation,  "  These 
are  the  commandments  of  men."  He  then  read  the 
twentieth  chapter  of  the  book  of  Exodus,  saying,  "  These 
are  the  command m.ents  of  God  ;  but  whereas  in  this  case 
the  laws  of  God  and  the  laws  of  men  are  at  variance, 
choose  ye  which  ye  will  obey."  Thus  he  took  the  side  of 
the  Sabbath  against  the  profane  decrees  of  the  king. 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  303 

DI.  The  Cry  from  the  Depths.  Jonah  ii.  2.  *'/ 
crie(/  by  reason  of  mine  affliction  unto  the  Lord,  and  He  heard 
me ;  out  of  the  belly  of  hell  cried  I,  and  Thotc  heardest  my 
voice." 

"You  want  nothing  more  than  this  cry.  If  you  cry  to  God 
out  of  the  depths,  you  will  cry  yourself  out  of  them.  Here 
is  a  man  at  the  foot  of  a  cliff  that  rises  beetling  like  a 
black  wall  behind  him,  the  sea  in  front,  the  clear  upright 
rock  at  his  back,  not  a  foothold  for  a  mouse  between  the 
tide  at  the  foot  and  the  grass  at  the  top  there.  There  is 
only  one  thing  he  can  do.  Shout !  Perchance  somebody 
will  hear  him,  and  a  rope  may  come  dangling  down  in 
front,  and,  if  he  has  nerve,  he  may  shut  his  eyes  and  make 
a  jump  and  catch  it.  There  is  no  way  for  you  up  out  of 
the  depths  but  to  cry  ;  and  that  will  bring  the  rope  down." 

DII.      The   Celestial   Fauna.      Micah  v.  2.     ''Though 

thou  be  little  among  the  thousands  ofjudah." 

Mr.  SpuRGEON  says  :  "  You  can  buy  complete  sets  of  all 
the  flowers  of  the  Alpine  district  at  the  hotel  near  the  foot 
of  the  Rosenlaui  glacier,  very  neatly  pressed  and  enclosed 
in  cases.  Some  of  the  flowers  are  very  common,  but  they 
must  be  included,  or  the  fauna  would  not  be  completely 
represented.  The  botanist  is  as  careful  to  see  that  the 
common  ones  are  there,  as  he  is  to  note  that  the  rarer 
specimens  are  not  excluded.  Our  blessed  Lord  will  be 
sure  to  make  a  perfect  collection  of  all  the  flowers  of  His 
field,  and  even  the  ordinary,  believer,  the  every-day  worker, 
the  common  convert,  will  not  be  forgotten.  To  Jesus'  eye 
there  is  beauty  in  all  His  plants,  and  each  one  is  needed  to 
perfect  the  fauna  of  Paradise.  May  I  be  found  among 
His  flowers,  if  only  as  one  out  of  myriad  daisies,  who  with 
sweet  simplicity  shall  look  up  and  wonder  at  His  love  for 
ever." 

Dili.  Practical  Christian  Teaching.  MicAHvi.8. 
"  He  hath  shoived  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ;  and  what  doth 
the  Lord  requit  e  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  to  walk  humbly  7i'itk  thy  God  ?  " 

"Don't  you  think  our  minister  soars  very  high,  sir?"  was 


304  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

once  asked  of  the  great  Robert  Hall  by  an  admiring 
hearer  concerning  a  minister  then  residing  near  Bristol. 
"Soars  hii^h,  sir!"  exclaimed  Hall,  with  his  usual  vehe- 
mence. "  Not  at  all,  sir  !  What  you  call  high,  sir,  is  simply 
a  foggy  atmosphere  in  which  he  invariably  envelops  him- 
self.'' 

DI V.  A  Law  Text.  Micah  vi.  8.  "  What  doth  the  Lord 
rcijiiire  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk 
humbly  witli  thy  GodV^ 

The  following  anecdote  is  told  of  the  Rev.  John  Brown, 
D.D.,  of  Haddington,  as  illustrating  the  freedom  of  his 
pulpit  style  from  any  such  doctrinal  aberrations  as  had 
been  by  some  apprehended.  A  venerable  old  man  in  a 
congregation  not  far  from  his  native  place  had  heard  the 
whole  Brown  family  preach  through  their  successive  genera- 
tions. He  went  a  long  day's  journey  to  hear  another  of 
the  race.  Being  a  great  enemy  of  legal  doctrine,  he  was 
somewhat  startled  when  the  text  was  announced.  This 
was  Micah  vi.  8,  being,  in  truth,  the  subject  of  one  of  Mr. 
Brown's  Presbytery  exercises,  "  What  doth  the  Lord  re- 
quire of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to 
walk  humbly  with  thy  God  t "  He  sat  deeply  interested 
both  in  the  speaker  and  in  the  development  of  the  doc- 
trine ;  and  when  all  was  ended,  burst  into  tears,  which  he 
continued  shedding  for  a  good  while.  At  length  he  spoke, 
"  If  there  was  a  law  text  in  all  the  Bible,  it  was  that ;  but 
he  has  preached  the  sound  gospel,  for  law  doctrine  was 
never  in  his  blood." 

DV.  Where  is  your  God?  ]\riCAH  vii.  8,  9. 
"•  Rejoice  not  against  me,  O  mine  enemy  :  when  I  fall,  I  shall 
arise  ;  when  I  sit  in  darkness,  the  Lord  shall  be  a  light  latto 
me.  I  will  bear  the  indignation  of  the  Lord,  because  I  have 
sinned  against  Liivi,  until  He  plead  my  cause,  and  execute 
judgment  for  me  J' 

A  Nonconformist  minister,  ^Ir.  Norman,  had  been  con- 
demned to  lie  in  Ilchester  gaol  for  preaching.  On  his  way 
thither  the  officers  stopped  to  rest  at  the  sheriff's  house. 
Lady  Warre,  the  sheriff's  wife,  came  to  look  at  the  prisoner, 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  305 

and  to  insult  him  with  cruel  words,  saying,  "  Where  is  your 
God  now,  Mr.  Norman?"  "Madam,"  he  replied,  "have 
you  a  Bible  in  the  house  ?  "  "  Yes  ;  we  are  not  so  heathenish 
as  to  be  without  a  Bible."  On  getting  it  into  his  hands,  he 
turned  to  Micah  and  read  the  words,  "  Rejoice  not  against 
me,  O  mine  enemy  :  when  I  fall,  I  shall  arise;  when  I  sit 
in  darkness,  the  Lord  shall  be  a  light  unto  me.  I  will  bear 
the  indignation  of  the  Lord,  because  I  have  sinned  against 
Him,  until  He  plead  my  cause,  and  execute  judgment  for 
me  :  He  will  bring  me  forth  to  the  light,  and  I  shall  behold 
His  righteousness.  77ien  she  that  is  mine  enemy  shall  see 
it,  and  shame  shall  cover  her  which  said  nnto  me,  Where 
is  the  Lord  thy  God  }  mine  eyes  shall  behold  her  :  now 
shall  she  be  trodden  down  as  the  mire  of  the  streets." 
The  lady  retired  silenced,  and  the  dealings  of  God  with 
her  family  soon  made  this  warning  to  be  noted  and 
remembered. 


DVI.  A  Funeral  Sermon.  Nahum  i.  3,  ^^  The  Lord 
is  slow  to  a?iger,  and  great  in  power,  and  will  ?iot  at  all  acquit 
the  ivicked :  the  Lord  hath  His  way  in  the  whirlivind  and  in 
the  storm,  and  the  clouds  are  the  dust  of  His  feet!' 

Massillon,  one  of  the  famous  divines  of  France,  was  called 
to  preach  the  funeral  sermon  of  the  departed  king.  The 
vast  cathedral  was  crowded.  The  reigning  king,  the  royal 
family,  the  flower  of  the  French  nobility,  and  the  members 
of  the  chamber  were  there.  The  solemn  service  was  in- 
toned. The  organ  reverberated  its  awful  and  impressive 
sound.  The  incense  pervaded  the  atmosphere.  The 
priests  retired  to  their  seats.  The  preacher  ascended  the 
pulpit.  Massillon  arose  and  stood  amid  that  vast  assem- 
blage rigid  and  pale  as  a  statue.  A  deathlike  silence 
reigned  as  he  stood  there  saying  naught.  His  gleaming 
eye  alone  indicated  self-possession.  Solemnly  he  surveyed 
them  all.  Now  his  eye  rested  on  the  emblazoned  banners 
and  drooping  ensigns — now  on  the  glittering  coronets  of 
the  nobles — now  on  the  royal  family,  then  on  the  king, 
until  at  length  he  fixed  his  gaze  upon  the  coffin.  Minutes 
passed.  Some  thought  he  was  struck  dumb  before  that 
august  assemblage.     At  last  he  slowly  raised  his  hand  and 

U 


3o6  OLD   TE^TAMEAT  ANECDOTES. 


turned    his    glance    upon    the    king,    saying,   with    infinite 
solemnity,  "TheKK   IS   NOTHING  GREAT   BUT   GOD." 

DVII.  Peace  on  Earth.  Nahum  i.  15.  '' Behold  upon 
the  }iioiaitains  the  feet  of  him  thai  bringeth  good  tidings,  that 
piibiisheth  peace  /" 
"  At  the  close  of  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,"  says 
an  American  writer,  "  the  prospects  of  our  nation  were 
shrouded  in  gloom.  Our  harbours  were  blockaded.  Com- 
munication coastwise  between  our  ports  was  cut  off.  Our 
immense  annual  products  were  mouldering  in  our  ware- 
houses. Our  currency  was  reduced  to  irredeemable  paper. 
Differences  of  political  opinion  were  embittering  the  peace 
of  many  households.  No  one  could  predict  when  the  con- 
test would  terminate,  or  discover  the  means  by  which  it 
could  much  longer  be  protracted.  It  happened  that  one 
afternoon  in  February  a  ship  was  discovered  in  the  offing, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  a  cartel,  bringing  home  our 
commissioners  at  Ghent  from  their  unsuccessful  mission. 
The  sun  had  set  gloomily  before  any  intelligence  from  the 
vessel  had  reached  the  city.  Expectation  became  pain- 
fully intense  as  the  hours  of  darkness  drew  on.  At  length 
a  boat  reached  the  wharf,  announcing  the  fact  that  a  treaty 
of  peace  had  been  signed,  and  was  waiting  for  nothing  but 
the  action  of  our  Government  to  become  a  law.  The  men 
on  whose  ears  these  words  first  fell  rushed  in  breathless 
haste  into  the  city  to  repeat  them  to  their  friends,  shouting 
as  they  ran  through  the  streets,  '  Peace  !  Peace  !  Peace  ! ' 
Every  one  who  heard  the  sound  repeated  it.  From  house 
to  house,  from  street  to  street,  the  news  spread  with  elec- 
tric rapidity.  The  whole  city  was  in  commotion.  Men 
bearing  lighted  torches  were  flying  to  and  fro,  shouting, 
'  Peace  !  Peace  !  Peace  ! '  When  the.  rapture  had  partially 
subsided,  one  idea  occupied  every  mind.  But  few  men 
slept  that  night.  In  groups  they  were  gathered  in  the 
streets,  and  by  the  fireside,  beguiling  the  hours  of  midnight 
by  reminding  each  other  that  the  agony  of  war  was  over, 
and  that  a  worn-out  and  distracted  country  was  about  to 
enter  again  upon  its  wonted  career  of  prosperity.  Thus, 
every  one  becoming  a  herald,  the  news  soon  reached  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  city,  and  filled  their  hearts 
with  joy." 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  307 

DVIII.  Vigilance.  Hab.  ii.  i.  "/  will  stand  upon  my 
jvatch,  and  set  me  upon  the  tower,  and  will  watch  to  see  zvhat 
He  will  say  unto  7ne." 

Nearly  two  centuries  ac^o  about  a  thousand  of  the  Vau- 
dois,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  Switzerland — all  that  re- 
mained from  the  many  thousands  who,  by  the  cruel  decree 
of  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  had  been  exterminated — came 
to  a  secret,  sworn,  and  invincible  determination  to  make 
their  way  through  all  difficulties,  and  repossess  themselves 
of  their  homes  in  the  Cottian  Alps.  Their  valour,  their 
heroism,  their  contempt  of  danger,  and  the  constancy  and 
skill  with  which  they  met  and  surmounted  all  difficulties 
have  never  been  surpassed  in  the  history  of  any  people. 
Opposed  by  armies  of  more  than  ten  times  their  number, 
threading  their  way  over  mighty  mountains  on  which  lay 
deep  snows,  along  paths  in  which  alone  the  chamois  or  the 
Alpine  mountaineer  could  keep  a  footing,  travelling  through 
rain  and  storm,  taking  no  prisoners,  but  putting  to  death 
all  who  fell  into  their  hands,  wresting  the  very  weapons 
with  which  they  fought  from  the  hands  of  their  enemies, 
purchasing  or  conquering  their  subsistence  as  they  went, 
seizing  bridges  in  the  face  of  foes  who  greatly  outnumbered 
them,  changing  their  route  a  dozen  times,  to  avoid  dangers 
too  great  to  be  met  without  utter  annihilation  by  their 
little  beleaguered  and  travel-worn  band,  their  eyes  were  at 
last  delighted  with  the  sight  of  the  familiar  mountain  peaks 
that  told  them  they  were  once  more  near  home.  God 
rewarded  such  constancy  and  devotion,  and  brought  them 
to  their  dearly  loved  homes  among  the  mountains,  never- 
more, let  us  believe,  to  be  thence  driven.  "  Eternal  vigil- 
ance is  the  price  of  liberty,"  and  the  success  that  crowned 
their  almost  superhuman  efforts  was  the  reward  of  a  zvatch- 
fuhiess  that  waited  during  years  of  silent  preparation,  and 
that,  once  they  had  started,  for  six  long  days  and  nights, 
gave  neither  sleep  nor  slumber  to  the  eyes  of  their  leader. 
Watch  !  The  grim  determination  that  had  possessed  them 
as  a  passion  made  watching  as  natural  as  to  breathe. 
Relax  their  vigilance  .''  Not  for  one  moment.  Miss  one 
golden  opportunity  for  success?  Never.  Be  caught  in 
any  snare,  though  in  the  very  midst  of  powerful,  malicious, 
and  outnumbering  foes.-'     Impossible.     "/  have  a  work  to 


3o8  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

do,"  said  the  Saviour,  "  and  Jiow  am  I  straitened  till  it  be 
accomplished !"  Such  seemed  the  spirit  that  animated 
them  and  compelled  them  to  ''watch."  Shall  we  do  less  to 
gain  our  heavenly  home  ? 

DIX.      The    Castle    of    St.   Andrew.       Hab.   ii.  4. 

"  The  just  shall  live  by  his  faith." 

Preaching  in  London  on  the  subject  of  Faith,  the  late 
Dr.  Guthrie  of  Edinburgh  said  :  "  We  were  visiting  that 
old  castle  of  St.  Andrew,  out  of  which  Hamilton  and 
Wishart,  our  first  Scotch  martyrs,  came  to  die  for  God's 
truth  at  the  stake.  Groping  our  way  along  a  tortuous 
passage,  we  descended  by  some  steps  into  an  inner  prison, 
and  then,  by  a  beam  of  light  that  streamed  through  a 
loophole  of  the  massive  wall,  we  saw  an  opening  in  the 
rocky  floor.  It  looked  like  a  draw-well.  Candles  lighted 
and  let  down  showed  a  shaft  descending  into  the  bowels  of 
the  rock,  where,  widening  out  like  the  neck  of  a  bottle,  it 
formed  a  dark,  damp,  dreary  dungeon.  A  dreadful  dun- 
geon. It  was  called,  and  fitly  called,  an  oubliette,  or  place 
of  forgetfulness,  because  those  that  black  mouth  swallowed 
up  were  ever  after  lost  to  life,  to  light,  to  liberty  and 
friends,  as  much  as  they  that  '  in  the  grave  forgotten  lie.' 
'There,'  said  John  Knox,  speaking  of  this  very  place, 
'many  of  God's  children  suffered  death,  pining  away 
slowly,  till  their  life  lapped  out  like  the  tide  on  the  shore, 
or  was  suddenly  destroyed  by  the  blow  of  the  assassin.' 
Such  were  the  bloody  days  and  deeds  of  popery.  As  our 
fancy  called  up  these  martyrs,  the  words  sprang  to  our 
memory,  '  They  walked  by  faith  and  not  by  sight.' " 

DX.     Deliverance  Coming  Too  Late.     Hab,  ii.  15. 

"  Woe  unto  him  that giveth  his  neighbour  drink/" 

The  late  William  Arnot  relates  the  following  story  in  one 
of  his  discourses:  "A  few  years  ago,  a  sloop  laden  with 
coals  was  beached  on  the  shore  of  the  Solvvay,  near  Wig- 
ton,  on  the  Scottish  coast,  in  order  that  her  cargo  might  be 
carted  away  during  ebb  tide.  While  the  vessel  lay  high 
and  dry  on  the  sand,  some  men  were  sent  in  beneath  her 
to  effect  some  necessary  repairs.  While  the  work  was 
going  on,  some  person  outside  observed  the  hull  heeling 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  309 

slowly  over  to  one  side,  and  gave  the  alarm  to  the  work- 
men. All  escaped  but  one.  The  ship  in  leaning  over 
caut^ht  his  limbs  before  he  had  time  to  creep  out,  and 
locked  them  fast  between  the  hull  and  sand.  The  man 
lived  and  spoke,  and  took  counsel  with  his  neighbours,  but 
remained  pinioned  to  the  spot.  All  hands  went  to  work. 
They  tried  first  by  lightening  the  ship  of  her  cargo,  but 
this  method  proved  too  slow;  they  tried  by  digging  in 
the  sand,  but  this  method  also  failed  ;  they  tried  by  at- 
taching hawsers  to  the  ship's  mast,  and  setting  a  great 
number  of  men  to  pull,  but  their  united  efforts  failed  to 
heel  her  over  to  the  other  side.  The  men  were  not  able 
to  liberate  their  comrade.  In  their  abortive  efforts  a 
precious  hour — tlie  precious  hour,  for  there  was  but  one — 
had  been  lost,  and  now  the  tide  of  the  Solway  came  rush- 
ing in  like  a  racehorse.  All  that  were  free  fled  before  it, 
and  left  their  imprisoned  companion  to  his  fate.  The  sea 
soon  slackened  the  grip  of  the  ship's  side,  and  set  the 
captive  free  ;  but  before  it  lifted  off  his  burden  it  had 
quenched  his  life.  The  water  drowned  him,  and  then  let 
him  go.  Deliverance  came  too  late,  and  his  lifeless  body 
was  washed  up  in  the  surf. 

"Calamities  greater  in  extent  frequently  occur  among  our 
seamen,  but  I  do  not  remember  one  that  was  so  excruciating 
in  its  nature,  and  cut  so  keenly  into  the  people's  heart.  The 
living  man  saw  the  tide  approaching,  but  could  not  get  out 
of  its  way  ;  felt  the  water  wetting  his  hair — felt  it  cold, 
covering  his  brow,  and  yet  must  needs  lie  still — lay  still 
till  it  stiflxl  him  ;  and  this  with  the  whole  town  turned  out 
on  the  beach,  spectators.  I  suppose  there  was  no  dry  eye 
in  Wigton  during  that  awful  hour.  I  suppose  there  were 
few  who  slept  deeply  on  the  following  night.  It  is  right 
that  man  should  be  shaken  in  the  depths  of  his  being  by 
witnessing  a  brother  so  miserably  perishing. 

"  We  must  not  deceive  ourselves.  We  see  multitudes 
caught  as  fast  between  their  own  appetites  and  the  fiery 
flood  which  these  appetites  feed  on — caught  and  held  till  a 
tide,  mightier  than  that  of  the  Solway,  comes  up  with  its 
awful  rescue.  They  cannot  wrench  themselves  away.  It 
is  better  in  such  a  case  to  lose  a  limb,  and  save  the  life  ; 
but,  alas  !  neither  the  man  who  perished  in  the  waters  of 
the   Solway,   nor    the   men    who    perish    by  drink,  have 


3IO  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

strength,  even  though  they  had  the  will,  to  tear  off  the 
limb  in  order  to  save  the  life.  When  physical  disease  and 
moral  depravity  clasp  and  close  in  upon  each  other,  the 
soul  is  overlaid  and  quenched  between.  Although  the 
prisoner  were  willing  to  part  with  the  right  arm,  he  cannot 
get  it  severed.  It  holds  him  till  the  tide  rise,  and  he  dies. 
"  With  an  earnestness  equal  to  that  displayed  by  the 
neighbours  at  Wigton,  and  with  a  skill  superior,  we  might 
save  our  brother.  We  could,  if  we  would.  By  the  power 
of  love  in  all  the  earlier  stages,  and  by  the  power  of  Law, 
if  the  madness  proceed  to  extremities,  the  community 
should  arise  in  its  might,  and  rescue  the  man  from  him- 
self." 

DXI.     God's  Praise.     Hab.  iii.  3.     ^^  His  glory  covered  the 
heavens,  a7id  the  earth  was  full  of  His  praise." 

It  is  said  that  once  when  Sir  Michael  Costa  was  having  a 
rehearsal  with  a  vast  array  of  performers  and  hundreds  of 
voices,  as  the  mighty  chorus  rang  out  with  thunder  of  the 
organ  and  roll  of  drums  and  ringing  horns  and  cymbals 
clashing,  some  one  man  far  away  up  in  some  corner,  who 
played  the  piccolo,  said  within  himself,  "  In  all  this  din  it 
matters  not  what  I  do,"  and  so  he  ceased  to  play.  Sud- 
denly the  great  conductor  stopped,  flung  up  his  hands,  and 
all  was  still — and  then  he  cried  aloud,  "  Where  is  the 
piccolo  ? "  The  quick  ear  missed  it,  and  all  was  spoilt 
because  it  failed  to  take  its  part.  O  my  soul,  do  thy  part 
with  all  thy  might !  Little  thou  mayest  be,  insignificant 
and  hidden,  and  yet  God  seeks  thy  praise.  He  listens  for 
it,  and  all  the  music  of  His  great  universe  is  made  richer 
and  sweeter  because  I  give  Him  thanks. 

DXII.     Seeking  Peace  for  Ten  Years.     Zeph.  ii.  3. 
"  Seek  ye  the  Lord,  all  ye  meek  of  the  ea?'th." 

A  YOUNG  woman  in  Burmah  felt  a  great  wish  to  learn  to 
read,  that  she  might  study  the  sacred  books  of  her  country. 
After  some  trouble  she  was  able  to  read  them,  and  for  ten 
long  years  she  tried  to  find  in  their  pages  the  peace  for 
which  she  longed  ;  but  she  could  not  obtain  it.  One 
day  a  friend  brought  her  a  Christian  tract,  which  pointed 
out  the  only  way  of  rest  for  a  sinner.     After  some  time 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  311 

she  heard  where  the  missionary  who  wrote  tlie  tract  lived 
She  soon  went  in  search  of  him,  and  when  siie  found  him, 
she  was  further  taught  in  the  truth  of  God's  Word.  For 
some  years  she  lived  as  a  Christian,  and  then  died  in  the 
faith.  In  her  last  hours  she  was  happy  in  the  thought  that 
she  should  soon  meet  her  pious  teachers  who  had  gone 
before  her  to  heaven.  "  But  first  of  all,"  she  said,  "  I  shall 
hasten  to  where  my  Saviour  sits,  and  fall  down  and  adore 
Him  for  His  great  love  in  sending  me  those  who  could 
lead  me  in  the  path  to  glory." 

DXIII.  A  Melancholy  Man.  Zeph.  iii.  16.  "/«  that 
day  it  shall  be  said  to  Jerusalem,  Fear  thou  not  :  a?td  to  Zioii, 
Let  not  thine  hands  be  slack.  The  Lord  thy  God  in  the  midst  of 
thee  is  mighty  ;  He  will  save.  He  will  rejoice  over  thee  with  joy." 

LUTIIER,  at  Wittenberg,  seeing  a  very  melancholy  man, 
said  to  him  :  "  Ah !  human  creature,  what  dost  thou  ? 
Hast  thou  nothing  else  in  hand  but  to  think  of  thy  sins,  on 
death,  and  damnation  .-*  Turn  thine  eyes  quickly  away, 
and  look  hither  to  this  man  Christ,  of  whom  it  is  written  : 
'  He  was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  suffered,  died,  buried,  descended  into  hell,  the  third 
day  arose  again  from  the  dead,  and  ascended  up  into 
heaven,'  etc.  Dost  think  all  this  was  done  to  no  end  .'' 
Comfort  thyself  against  death  and  sin  ;  be  not  afraid,  nor 
faint,  for  thou  hast  no  cause  ;  Christ  suffered  death  for 
thee,  and  prevailed  for  thy  comfort  and  defence,  and  for 
that  cause  He  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  His  heavenly 
Father,  to  deliver  thee." 

DXIV.     An  Arrow  Shot  at  a  Venture.     Zech.  ii.  4. 
"  And  said  unto  him.  Run,  speak  to  this  young  man" 

One  Saturday  night  an  earnest  minister  of  Christ  studied 
his  sermon,  as  usual,  with  prayer,  but  felt  oppressed.  In 
the  morning  he  said,  "  I  cannot  preach  this  ;  I  do  not  feel 
the  Lord  present  with  me."  His  wife  said,  "  Pray,  '  Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan.'  "  He  did,  but  entered  the  pulpit 
with  a  heavy  heart.  Service  commenced.  The  time  came 
for  the  text.  He  said,  "  My  friends,  I  cannot  tell  what 
oppresses   me,  but   I   cannot   preach   the  sermon   I   have 


312  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

prepared.  Let  us  pray."  At  the  close  he  opened  the 
Book  at  the  place  Zecliariah  ii.  4,  and  read,  "  Run,  speak 
to  this  young  man,"  and  he  was  led  to  speak  with  a  mighty 
power.  He  went  home  still  oppressed,  unable  to  account 
for  the  strange  feeling.  Years  after  he  went  to  a  meeting 
at  a  neighbouring  parish.  A  young  man  sought  him,  and 
said,  "  I  am  a  stranger  to  you  ;  you  are  not  to  me."  He 
replied,  "  You  are  mistaken  ;  I  have  not  to  my  knowledge 
ever  spoken  to  you."  "  Oh,  yes  you  have,  sir.  Do  you 
not  remember  preaching  some  years  ago  from  the  words, 
'  Run,  speak  to  this  young  man  ' }  I  am  that  young  man. 
I  entered  the  chapel  to  annoy  you  and  others,  but  the 
hand  of  God  arrested  me.  The  arrow  sped  home,  and 
here  I  am,  a  living  monument  of  God's  mercy,  and  a 
minister  of  that  same  Gospel." 

DXV.      Satan's    Master    Argument.      Zech.  iii.  i. 
"  And  Satan  standing  at  his  right  hand  to  resist  him" 

JOMN  BUNYAN  wrote  a  book  entitled,  "  The  Jerusalem 
Sinner  Saved  ;  or.  Good  News  for  the  Vilest  of  Men — being 
a  Help  for  Despairing  Souls."  In  it  he  thus  writes  :  "  It  is 
because  Christ  shows  mercy  to  the  vilest  that  Satan  rages 
so  strongly;  and  as  he  can  do  nothing  with  Christ,  he  assails 
Christ's  people.  He  holds  our  hands  while  the  world 
buffets  us ;  he  puts  bearskins  upon  us,  and  then  sets  the 
dogs  at  us.  He  bcdaubeth  us  with  his  own  foam,  and 
then  tempts  us  to  believe  that  that  bedaubing  comes  from 
ourselves.  Let  the  tempted  think  much  on  Christ's  mercy  ; 
for  the  tempted,  wherever  he  dwells,  always  thinks  himself 
the  biggest  sinner.  This  is  Satan's  master  argument.  I 
say  this  is  his  maul,  his  club,  his  masterpiece  ;  he  doth 
with  this  as  some  do  with  their  most  enchanting  songs — 
sing  them  everywhere." 

DXVI.     Early  Prayer  Used  of  God.      Zech.  iii.  2. 
"  Is  not  this  a  brand  plucked  from  the  burni?ig?" 

About  1812  a  very  wicked  man,  a  most  dreadful  drunkard, 
a  bad  and  cruel  husband  and  father,  was  living  in  the  town 
of  Frome,  Somerset.  One  Saturday  night,  going  home  at 
midnight,  he  stumbled  into  a  doorway,  a  kind  of  porch,  on 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  313 

Catherine  Hill,  as  he  was  finding  his  way  to  his  miserable 
home,  fell  fast  asleep,  and  did  not  wake  till  four  o'clock  on 
the  Sabbath  morning,  when  he  was  aroused  by  the  voice 
of  prayer.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  good  man  of  the 
house  to  rise  early,  and  come  down  to  a  small  parlour 
next  the  street-door  to  hold  communion  with  God.  that  he 
might  not  disturb  the  family.  The  poor  drunkard  had  by 
this  time  become  sober  ;  the  good  man's  words  pierced  his 
soul,  he  was  deeply  convicted  of  sin,  and  at  length  found 
mercy,  and  became  a  wonder  to  all  that  knew  him.  He 
used  to  be  pointed  out  to  me  as  a  miracle  of  mercy  when 
I  was  young.  It  was  indeed  a  wonder  of  grace  that  the 
man  who  was  the  terror  of  the  town  should  become  a 
Christian.    Is  not  this  a  brand  plucked  out  of  the  burning? 

DXVII.     "Baksheesh."      Zech.  iv.  7.      '' Grace,  grace." 

A  LADY  missionary  in  Armenia  was  sitting  by  the  bedside 
of  a  woman  who  had  been  a  bitter  opposer  of  the  Gospel, 
but  her  heart  had  now  been  softened  by  sickness,  and  for 
the  first  time  she  listened  to  the  good  news  from  heaven. 
As  the  lady  tried  to  explain  to  her  the  only  way  of  salva- 
tion, she  answered,  "Ah,  yes ;  you,  who  have  done  so  many 
good  works,  will  be  saved  ;  God  will  not  look  on  me  I 
On  some  texts  being  quoted,  showing  that  it  is  all  free 
grace,  an  assistant  teacher,  Maranos,  whispered,  "  If  you 
say  '  baksheesh,'  she  will  understand  you  better."  "  Bak- 
sheesh !  " — that  common  and  tiresome  word  in  the  mouth 
of  every  beggar  who  solicits  alms  with  outstretched  hands 
and  whining  voice — this  "baksheesh"  conveyed  to  that 
untaught  mind  the  meaning  of  the  "grace  of  God  which 
bringeth  salvation  "  in  the  "  unspeakable  gift "  of  His  Son. 

DXVIII.     "I'll  not  Submit  to  It."     Zech.  vii,  11,  12. 

'■'•But  they  refused  to  hearken,  and  pulled  away  the  shoulder, 
and  stopped  their  ears,  that  they  should  7iot  hear.  Yea,  they 
made  their  hearts  as  an  adaniaiit  stone." 

This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  E C came  on  her 

death-bed,  when  the  offer  of  free  salvation,  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus,  was  pressed  upon  her.  She  was  an  intelligent  young 
woman — had  been  religiously  brought  up ;  and  whilst  in 


314  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

health  she  was  in  all  respects  dutiful  and  exemplary.  But 
she  had  not  been  "  born  again."  She  had  never  seen  that 
in  the  sight  of  God  her  own  goodness  was  a  worthless 
thing.  She  had  never  "  submitted  herself  to  the  righteous- 
ness of  God." 

The  seeds  of  consumption  were  in  her  constitution. 
Whilst  still  young  she  was  laid  upon  a  bed  of  sickness. 
She  became  intensely  anxious  about  her  eternal  state. 
Her  minister  was  sent  for.  He  tried  to  open  up  to  her 
God's  way  of  saving  sinners,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus.  But 
still  her  mind  continued  dark,  and  her  heart  unhappy. 
He  saw  her  often,  and  on  each  occasion  commended  Jesus 
to  her  as  a  Saviour,  and  His  perfect  obedience  and  death 
in  the  room  of  sinners  as  being  all  that  her  case  could 
need. 

One  day  when  he  called,  he  found  her  sitting  up  in  bed, 
supported  by  pillows,  with  a  look  of  eager,  excited  interest 
upon  her  face.  After  a  few  words  of  salutation,  she  said, 
"  Is  this  what  you  mean,  sir,  as  the  way  of  salvation,  which 
you  have  been  explaining  to  me  :  that  Christ's  obedience 
is  to  gain  acceptance  for  me,  as  if  it  had  been  my  own 
obedience  :  and  that  all  that  I  have  done  is  to  be  washed 
away  through  the  sufferings  which  He  endured  for  sinners 
on  the  cross  1 "  "  Yes,"  said  the  minister;  "  that  is  just  it : 
accept  Jesus,  and  rely  on  Him  alone  for  salvation,  and  in 
that  moment  His  sufferings  will  answer  to  God  for  ALL 
that  you  have  done — for  it  is  ALL  sinful ;  and  His  perfect 
obedience  will  be  counted  yours.  Then  God  will  deal  with 
you  as  if  you  had  never  sinned,  but  had  rendered  that 
obedience  yourself"  "Do  you  mean,"  eagerly  asked  the 
d}-ing  girl,  "that  /  may  be  saved  just  in  the  same  way 
and  on  the  same  terms  as  the  most  wicked  person  in  the 
town  .'' "  "Yes,"  answered  the  minister;  "I  just  mean 
that."  A  look  of  disappointment  and  dissatisfaction 
settled  upon  her  countenance.  She  sat  in  silence  for  a 
little,  and  then  said,  very  firmly  and  decidedly,  "  Well, 
then,  I'll  not  submit  to  it."  Her  anxiety  vanished  from 
that  hour.  From  that  day  forward  she  refused  to  converse 
on  the  subject  of  religion.  Shortly  afterwards  she  died, 
in  settled,  resolute  indifference. 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  315 

DXIX.  The  Difficult  Duty  of  Prayer.  Zech.  viii. 
21.  '^  And  the  iiihabilants  of  07ie  city  sliall  go  to  another, 
saying.  Let  us  go  speedily  to  pray  before  the  Lord,  and  to  seek 
the  Loj-d  of  hosts :  I  will  go  also." 

A  Christian  brother  who  had  fallen  into  darkness  and 
discouragement  was  staying  at  the  same  house  with  Dr. 
Finney  one  night.  He  was  lamenting  his  condition,  and 
Dr.  Finney,  after  listening  to  his  narrative,  turned  to  him 
with  his  pecuHar,  earnest  look,  and,  with  a  voice  that  sent 
a  thrill  through  his  soul,  said,  "  You  don't  pray  !  that  is 
what's  the  matter  with  you.  Pray — pray  four  times  as 
much  as  ever  you  did  in  your  life,  and  you  will  come  out." 
He  immediately  went  down  to  the  parlour,  and  taking  a 
Bible  he  made  a  serious  business  of  it,  stirring  up  his  soul 
to  God  as  did  Daniel,  and  thus  he  spent  the  night.  It 
was  not  in  vain.  As  the  morning  dawned  he  felt  the  light 
of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  shine  upon  his  soul.  His 
captivity  was  broken,  and  ever  since  he  has  felt  that  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  the  way  of  men's  being  emancipated 
from  their  bondage  is  that  they  "  don't  pray."  "  Pray 
without  ceasing."  "  Men  ought  always  to  pray,  and  not 
to  faint." 

DXX.  Good  Counsel.  Zech.  x.  12.  "And  I  will 
strengthen  them  in  the  Lord ;  and  they  shall  walk  up  a7id  dozvn 
in  His  name,  saith  the  Lord." 

The  late  Duchess  of  Gordon  wrote  a  letter,  a  few  days 
before  her  death,  to  a  young  girl  whom  she  had  befriended, 
giving  her  good  counsel,  and  she  concluded  thus  :  "  In  our 
weakness  His  strength  is  found  ;  and  so  long  as  we  think 
ourselves  strong  in  wisdom,  purpose,  or  power,  we  shall  be 
sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  find  our  wisdom  folly,  our  purpose 
a  cobweb,  and  our  power  utter  helplessness.  Therefore  my 
best  wish  for  you  is  that  you  may  cast  all  your  care  on 
Him  who  careth  for  His  people,  and  as  my  favourite  hymn 
says, — 

Lay  down  in  His  strong  hand, 

So  shall  the  work  be  done, 
For  who  can  work  so  wondrously 

As  the  Almighty  One  V" 


3i6  OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

DXXI.      A  Shepherd    Pastor.      Zech.  xi.  4.       ^' Thus 

saith  the  Lord  my  God,  Feed  the  flock  P 

When  the  Act  of  Uniformity  was  passed,  in  1662,  about 
two  thousand  ministers  took  their  stations  in  the  ranks  of 
Nonconformity  ;  many,  with  their  families,  had  to  exchanf^e 
a  h'fe  of  competency  for  a  Hfe  of  toil,  some  adopting  the 
callings  of  farm-labourers.  The  lady  of  a  county  squire 
was  dangerously  ill  ;  the  clergyman  was  sent  for,  but 
returned  a  message  that  "he  was  going  out  hunting,  and 
would  come  after  the  hunt  was  over."  "  Sir,"  said  one  of 
the  servants  to  the  afflicted  husband,  "our  shepherd  can 
pray  very  well ;  we  have  often  heard  him  pray  in  the 
fields."  The  shepherd  was  immediately  summoned  to  the 
bedside  of  the  sufferer,  and  prayed  with  such  fervour  that 
when  he  rose  from  his  knees  the  squire  said,  "  You  must 
tell  me  who  and  what  you  are."  Upon  which  the  shepherd 
told  him  his  story,  that  he  was  one  of  the  ministers  ejected 
from  the  Church,  and  that  having  nothing  left  he  was  now 
content  to  submit  to  the  honest  and  painful  employment  of 
keeping  sheep.  This  man  was  Peter  Luce,  of  Blagmore 
College,  Oxford,  and  had  been  noted  as  a  Hebraist  in 
better  days. 

DXXII.     Flowers    of   Memory.     Zech.  xii.  10.     ^^ As 

one  inoiirneth  for  his  only  son" 

An  investigator  of  pedigrees  was  searching  in  a  midland 
county  of  England  for  any  traces  that  might  still  be  found 
of  an  old  family  of  the  district.  He  went  to  the  records 
of  the  church,  but  their  name  was  not  there,  it  had  perished. 
He  repaired  to  the  supposed  site  of  their  ancient  hall. 
Not  a  stone  remained  to  tell  its  place.  Disappointed  in 
these  attempts,  he  accosted  an  aged  peasant :  "  Do  you 
know  anything  of  the  Findernes  ?  " 

"  Findernes  } "  was  the  reply.  "  We  have  no  Findernes 
here,  but  we  have  Findernes'  flowers." 

Here  was  a  clue.  The  old  man  led  the  way  to  a  field 
where  there  were  traces  of  an  ancient  terrace. 

"  There,"  said  he,  pointing  to  a  bank  of  garden-flowers 
grown  wild,  "  there  are  Findernes'  flowers,  brought  by  Sir 
Geoffrey  from  the  Holy  Land,  and,  do  what  v/e  will,  they 
will  never  die," 


OLD    TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  317 

There  are  those  that  can  go  back,  ten,  twenty,  forty 
years,  and  recall  the  time  when  a  child  was  taken  from 
them.  It  has  left  no  record  in  the  annals  of  the  world  : 
no  more  mark  than  the  shining  pebble  that  is  thrown  into 
the  river,  when  the  waters  close  over  it  for  ever.  Is  there, 
then,  no  trace  to  be  found  beneath  the  heavens  of  that 
loved  one  .<*  Go,  ask  the  mother  bereaved  so  long  ago. 
There,  in  the  old  garden  of  a  heart  overgrown  with  many 
experiences,  and  shaded  with  many  a  sombre  spray  of  ivy 
and  many  a  weeping  branch  of  Cyprus,  flourish  still  the  old 
memories  of  that  cherished  child.  His  winsome  ways, 
his  pleasant  prattle,  his  sunny  smile,  his  look  of  love,  are 
all  remembered  still.  These  flowers  of  memory  bloom  as 
fresh  as  on  the  day  after  the  little  one  was  gathered  home. 
The  snows  of  winter  may  have  fallen  thick  upon  that 
mother's  head,  but  touch  the  old  chord,  and  it  will  vibrate 
true  and  tender  as  ever.  Encourage  her  to  speak  upon 
this  theme,  and  she  will  pour  forth  her  recollections  of  her 
lost  one,  and  will  narrate  to  you  the  incidents  of  his  sick- 
ness and  his  death  with  a  minuteness  and  detail  that  will 
astonish  any  one  who  has  not  had  or  lost  a  child.  We 
lately  met  a  mother  whose  boy  was  taken  from  her  more 
than  thirty  years  ago,  who  told  us,  as  the  tear  rose  to  her 
eye,  that  when  she  is  looking  after  the  affairs  of  her 
household,  she  sometimes  comes  upon  his  toys,  and  never 
without  a  flood  of  tenderest  memories  filling  her  heart. 

DXXIII.  The  Uses  of  Affliction.  Mal.  iii.  3.  ''And 
He  shall  sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver  :  and  He  shall 
purify  the  sons  of  Levi,  and  purge  thcni  as  gold  and  silver,  that 
they  may  offer  unto  the  Lord  an  offer ijig  in  righteousness." 

When  Mr.  Cecil  went  to  college,  he  had  much  to  bear, 
both  from  severe  conflicts  in  his  own  mind,  and  also  from 
insulting  treatment  at  the  hands  of  his  profligate  and  un- 
godly companions.  Not  yet  accustomed  to  the  yoke,  these 
things  troubled  him  more  than  they  would  have  done 
afterwards,  and  he  went  to  walk  one  day,  under  their 
influence,  very  heavy  and  sad  in  heart.  The  Ph}-sic  Gar- 
dens was  the  scene  which  he  chose  for  meditation  and 
relief ;  and  here  he  observed  a  very  fine  pomegranate  tree, 
cut  almost  through  the  stem,  near  the  root.     Struck  with 


3i8  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

this  singular  sight,  he  asked  the  gardener  for  an  explana- 
tion. "  Sir,"  said  the  man,  "  this  tree  used  to  shoot  so 
strong,  that  it  bore  nothing  but  leaves.  I  was  therefore 
obliged  to  cut  it  in  this  manner  ;  and  zvhen  it  zvas  almost 
cut  through,  tlicn  it  began  to  bear  ple^tty  of  fruit"  The 
answer  produced  a  deep  impression  upon  Mr.  Cecil's  mind, 
and  he  went  back  to  his  rooms  comforted  and  instructed. 
It  was  then  he  received  his  first  lesson  in  the  usefulness  of 
trial. 

DXXIV.  True  Courage.  Mal.  iii.  5.  '' And  I zvill covie 
near  to  you  to  judgment ;  and  1 7vill  be  a  sivift  zaitness  against 
the  sorcerers,  and  against  the  adulterers." 

The  boldness  of  Latimer  in  rebuking  even  the  king's 
majesty  himself,  for  conscience'  sake,  is  shown  in  a  well- 
known  anecdote.  At  the  time  of  Henry's  neglect  of  Queen 
Anne  Boleyn,  and  his  undisguised  preference  for  Jane 
Seymour,  the  bishops  brought,  according  to  custom,  their 
New  Year's  gifts  to  court.  "Some,"  says  the  old  chronicler. 
"  did  gratify  the  king  with  gold,  some  with  silver,  some 
with  a  purse  full  of  money  ;  some  one  thing,  some  another. 
But  Master  Latimer,  being  Bishop  of  Worcester,  then 
among  the  rest  presented  a  New  Testament  for  his  gift, 
with  a  napkin  having  this  motto  upon  it,  '  Fornicatores  et 
Adulteres jiidicabit  Dominiis' — 'Whoremongers  and  adul- 
terers God  will  judge.' " 

DXXV.    "I  must  Give  before  I  can  Pray."    Mal. 

iii.  10.  "  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse,  that  there 
may  be  meat  in  Mine  house,  and  prove  Me  now  hereivith,  saith 
the  Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the  tvitidotvs  of  heaven, 
and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  be  room 
enough  to  receive  it." 

The  venerable  Dr.  Sewall,  of  Maine,  once  entered  a  meet- 
ing in  behalf  of  foreign  missions  just  as  the  collectors  of 
the  contributions  were  resuming  their  seats.  The  chairman 
of  the  meeting  requested  him  to  lead  in  prayer.  The  old 
gentleman  stood  hesitatingly,  as  if  he  had  not  heard  the 
request.  It  was  repeated  in  a  louder  voice,  but  there  was 
no  response.  It  was  observed,  however,  that  Dr.  Sewall 
was  fumbling  in  his  pockets,  and  presently  he  produced  a 


OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES.  319 

piece  of  money,  which  he  deposited  in  the  contribution 
box.  The  chairman,  thinking  he  had  not  been  under- 
stood, said  loudly,  "  I  didn't  ask  you  to  give,  Dr.  Sewall,  I 
asked  you  to  pray."  "  Oh  yes,"  he  replied,  "  I  heard  you, 
but  I  cant  pray  till  I  have  given  sojnethiiig." 

DXXVI.  The  Luxury  of  Doing  Good.  Mal.  iii. 
10.  'Wiring ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse^  that  there  may 
be  meat  in  Aline  house,  and  prove  Me  noiv  hereivith,  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  if  /  will  not  open  you  the  windoics  of  heaven, 
and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  be  room  efiough 
to  receive  it." 

The  language  of  Malachi  iii.  10  is  often  used  in  prayer  by 
those  who  are  not  aware  that  it  is  rather  a  challenge  than 
a  promise — "  Prove  me  now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts."  We  naturally  ask  whether  God  does  "  open  the 
windows  of  heaven  and  pour  down  blessing "  upon  the 
faithful  givers  of  tithes.  Instances  are  not  wanting  among 
ourselves  to  supply  the  answer.  No  workers  in  our  day 
have  enjoyed  larger  blessing  than  George  Miiller  and 
Charles  Spurgeon,  both  of  whom  have,  from  the  beginning 
of  their  work,  put  the  sacred  rule  into  practice  with  believ- 
ing and  humble  hearts.  Years  ago  Mr.  Spurgeon  said  :  "  I 
knew  a  lad  in  Christ  once  who  adopted  the  principle  of 
giving  a  tenth  to  God.  When  he  won  a  money  prize  for 
an  essay  on  a  religious  subject,  he  felt  that  he  could  not 
give  less  than  one-fifth  of  it.  He  has  never  since  been  able 
to  deny  himself  the  pleasure  of  having  a  fifth  to  give. 
God  has  wonderfully  blessed  that  lad,  and  increased  his 
means  and  his  enjoyment  of  that  luxury  of  luxuries — the 
luxury  of  doing  good." 

DXXVII.  Days  of  Proscription  and  Persecu- 
tion. Mal.  iii.  16.  '' Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord  spake 
often  one  to  afwther  :  and  the  Lord  hearkened,  and  heard  it." 

In  the  memoirs  of  Hannah  More,  there  is  mention  made 
of  her  grandfather,  who  married  into  a  family  zealous  for 
Nonconformity.  Tliey  boarded  a  minister  in  their  house, 
and  at  midnight  pious  worshippers  went  with  stealthy 
steps  to  hear  the  words  of  inspiration  from  the  minister's 
lips,  while  Mr.  More,  with   a  drawn  sword,  guarded  the 


33P  OLD   TESTAMENT  ANECDOTES. 

entrance  from  violent  or  profane  intrusion.  Mrs,  More 
was  also  a  pious  woman,  and  used  to  tell  her  younger 
relatives,  when  they  complained  of  the  long  distance  to 
church,  that  they  would  have  known  how  to  value  Gospel 
privileges  had  they  lived,  like  her,  in  the  days  of  proscrip- 
tion and  persecution. 

DXXVIII.  A  Poor  Highland  Woman.  Mal.  iv.  2. 
"  But  luUo  yon  that  fear  My  name  shall  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness arise  7vith  healing  in  His  wings." 

A  POOR  Highland  woman,  unable  to  read  or  write,  was  yet 
a  close  observer  of  nature,  and  noted  how  the  frail  petals  of 
the  flax  or  lint-bell  unfolded  in  the  sunshine  and  closed 
when  his  rays  were  withdrawn.  She  was  very  ignorant, 
her  one  power  being  to  accept  and  love  the  blessings  of 
God,  from  the  "  inestimable  gift  "  of  His  Son  to  that  of  the 
least  flower  that  bloomed  in  her  path.  On  application  to 
her  minister  to  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  she 
showed  such  utter  ignorance  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
that  she  was  deemed  totally  unfit  to  become  a  communi- 
cant. He  conveyed  this  to  her  as  kindly  as  he  could,  and 
she  replied,  "  Aweel,  sir,  aweel ;  but  I  ken  ae  thing :  as  the 
lint-bell  opens  to  the  sun,  so  does  my  heart  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  !  "  Here  was  seed  of  the  Lord's  own  planting.  The 
Second  Adam  had  been  busy  in  this  garden  dressing  it 
and  keeping  it 

DXXIX.     Our    Evidences.     Mal.  iv.  2.      '' The  Sun  of 

righteousness." 

The  Rev.  J.  H.  Evans,  of  St.  John's  Chapel,  London,  on 
his  deathbed  sent  a  message  to  his  people,  that  he  felt  his 
sins  and  deservings  more  than  ever,  but  that  he  stood  ac- 
cepted in  the  Beloved,  notwithstanding  all.  "  In  Jesus  I 
stand  ;  Jesus  is  a  panacea."  He  used  to  say,  "  When  we 
look  for  our  evidences,  they  hide  their  heads  like  lilies  of 
the  valley,  and  we  are  distressed  because  we  cannot  find 
them  ;  but  if  we  look  at  Christ,  the  sun  arises  and  they 
spring  up  afresh." 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS. 


Aaron's  Rod,  32. 
Able  to  Deliver,  289. 
Acorn  Shells,  177. 
Affection,  A  Son's,  16, 
Affliction,  The  Day  of,  223. 
Affliction,  The  Furnace  of,  246. 
Afifliction,  The  Mellowing  Power 

of,  148. 
Affliction,  The  Uses  of,  317. 
Animals,  Cruelty  to,  105. 
Animals,  Kindness  to,  181. 
Answer,  A  Soft,  183. 
Arrow    Shot   at   a   Venture,  An, 

311- 

Atmosphere,  A  Malarial,  224. 
Atonement,  Belief  in  the,  255. 
Attempting    Great     Things     for 

God,  255. 
Awakening,  An,  295. 

"  Baksheesh,"  313. 

Balaam's  Ass,  202. 

Bargains,  Three  Bad,  12. 

Banen  Tree,  A,  269. 

Bed,  An  Hour  or  two  sooner  to, 

132. 
Beggar,  A  Pulpit,  165. 
Begin  at  the  Beginning,  237. 
Benevolence,    No   Deaths   from, 

179- 
Besieged  Town,  A,  143. 
Beware  of  the  Ivy  Green,  225. 
Bible,  A  Soldier's,  222. 
Bible  in  Iceland,  The,  70. 
Bible  in  the  Heart,  hiding  the, 

146. 
Bible,    Penalty   of  Reading  the, 

75- 
Bible,  Ruskin's,  42. 
Bible,  The  Power  of  a  Living,  287. 


Bible,  The  Robber's,  196. 
Bishop,  An  Irish,  163. 
Bishop's  Veneration    for  White- 
field,  A,  187. 
Bitter  Cup,  A,  256. 
Black,  Cold,  Hard,  278. 
Blessing,  Times  of,  244. 
Blocking    up    the    Broad    Way, 

253. 
Body,  An  Emaciated,  21. 
Books,  A  Ciiain  of  Precious,  252. 
Books,  The  Most  Unfashionable 

of  all,  46. 
Born  So,  I  was,  279. 
Boyhood,  A  Christian,  13, 
Boys'  Temptations,  172. 
Bruised  Reed,  A,  241. 
Building  up  in  their  most  holy 

Faith,  32. 
Burdens,  106. 
Burning  with  Pure  Oil,  23. 

Called  of  God,  46. 

Calvin's  Motto,  200. 

Captive  Set  Free,  The,  78. 

Captives,  264. 

Card-playing,  72. 

Castle  of  St.  Andrew,  The,  308. 

Cathedral,    The    Plan   of    Stras- 

burg,  22. 
Cattle  on  a  Thousand  Hills,  The, 

115. 
Caught  by  Guile,  117. 
Chariot  of  Fire,  The,  60. 
Charity,  The  Duty  of,  30. 
Child,  A  Drunkard's,  199. 
Child,    Knowing  the    Scriptures 

from  a,  195. 
Child,  Story  of  a  Jerusalem,  239, 
Children  in  Prison,  257. 

3a|  y 


323 


INDEX. 


Children,  Three  Lessons  for,  i68. 
Children's  Help,  194. 
Christ  Covering  the  Sinner,  265. 
Christ,  Near  the  Fire,  Near,  289. 
Christ  Not  Needed,  268. 
Christ  our  Rest-Stone,  26. 
Christ,  Seeing  No  Beauty  in,  227. 
Christian  Forbearance,  190. 
Christian    Life,    Some   Rules   for 

the,  27. 
Christian  Pastor,  An  Ideal,  3. 
Christian  Philosopher,  A,  82. 
Christianized,    but     Humanized, 

Not,  86. 
Christian's  Portion,  The,  88. 
Christians,   Seeking  the   Society 

of,  202. 
Christ's     Everlasting     Kingdom, 

164. 
Christ's    Kingdom    is    Growing, 

262. 
Church,  A  Distressed,  161. 
Closing  Words,  97. 
Colour-Blind,  80. 
Columba  and  his  Ministry,  270. 
Com  fori,  A  Psalm  of,  94. 
Comforted  of  God,  256. 
Communion  Sunday,  93. 
Concentration  of  Heart,  273. 
Conscience  a  Gnawing  Worm,  'j']. 
Conscience,  Reverencing,  219. 
Conscience,  The,  230. 
Contrast,  A,  171. 
Conversion  of  Count  de  Gasparin, 

The,  112. 
Convert,  An  African,  45. 
Converted,  How  John  Williams 

was,  32. 
Counsel,  Good,  315. 
Courage  in    Helping  the  Wrong 

Doer,  214. 
Courage,  True,  318. 
Courtier  and  the  Christian,  The, 

210. 
Covenant  Sign,  The,  8. 
Covenanters,  The,  127. 
Cruelty  to  Animals,  105. 
Cry  from  the  Depths,  The,  303. 
Cursing,  22. 

Dairyman's  Daughter,  The,  165. 


Dancing  for  Joy,  265. 

Danger,  Unconscious,  166. 

Deadness  of  Heart,  137. 

Death  a  Bed  to  the  Weary,  298. 

Death,  A  Child's,  53. 

Death,  A  Sudden,  156. 

Death,  Brought    Back  from  the 

Gates  of,  107. 
Death  of  Children,  55. 
Death  Overcome,  Fear  of,  163. 
Death,  Signs  of,  140. 
Death  Song,  A,  242. 
Death,  The  Reconciliation,  113. 
Death,  The  Ways  of,  190. 
Deaths    from    Benevolence,  No, 

179. 
Decision,  A  Wise,  205. 
Decision  of  a  Moment,  The,  147. 
Deliverance    Coming   Too   Late, 

308. 
Deliverance  from  Evil,  130. 
Despondence,  A  Remedy  against, 

19. 
Detection  of  Sin  is  Certam,  The, 

36. 
Devil's  Letters,  The,  6. 
Devoutness  of  Spirit,  45. 
De  Witt,  The  Brothers,  130. 
Diary,  A  Good  Man's,  168. 
Die  is  Gain,  To,  242. 
Die  Manfully,  How  to,  212. 
Dissatisfied  with  Myself,  150. 
Distress,  Succour  Men  in,  40. 
Do  it  Well,  213. 
Door,  The  Shut,  6. 
Doors,  Beautiful,  12. 
Dream,  A  Singular,  73. 
Drink,    Erring    through   Strong, 

234- 
Drink,  Strong,  234. 
Drowned,  Almost,  154. 
Duke's  Example,  A,  109. 
Dumb  Bell,  The,  283.  _ 
Dying,  Joy  and  Peace  in,  259. 
Dying,  The  Bliss  of,  35. 
Dying  Words  of  an  Unbeliever, 

76. 
Dynamite,  178. 

Early  Riser,  An,  61. 

flarly  Years  of  Wickedness,  104 


INDEX. 


323 


Ears,  The  Use  of  Wool  in  the, 

106. 
Earth's  Dark  Places,  128. 
Educated  Eyes,  104. 
Egyptian  Animal  VVorship,  18. 
Emperor's  Shame,  An,  51. 
Enemy   'l"urned    into    a    Friend, 

An,  188. 
Enterini;    the    Vineyard    at    the 

Eleventh  Hour,  213. 
Entreating  Sinners   to  Come   to 

Jesus,  267. 
Epitaph,  A  Quaint,  7. 
Escape,  A  Providential,  167. 
Eternity  and  Where  it  is  to  be 

Spent,  17. 
Eternity,  The  Light  of,  294. 
Evangelist,  An,  201. 
Evidences,  Our,  320. 
Exemplary  Lady,  An,  119. 
Extremity,  In  tiie  Hour  of,  56. 
Eye  Inward,  One,  106. 
Eye,  The  Painted,  183. 
Eyes,  Educated,  104. 

Faith,  Wild,  92. 

Family  Worship,  218. 

Far  Country,  In  the,  169. 

Farewell,  A  Last,  187. 

Farewell  Scene,  A,  42. 

Father,  A  Wise,  182. 

Father,  I  have  called  Thee,  132. 

Fatherland,  The  Divine,  232. 

Fauna,  The  Celestial,  303. 

Fear  Not,  243. 

Fear  of  Death  Overcome,  163. 

Flock,  Among  the,  284. 

Flowers  of  Memory,  316. 

Found  Off  Guard,  69. 

Fox    and    his     False    Accusers, 

George,  194. 
Fulfilling  his  Mission,  54. 
Furnace,  In  the,  289. 
Funeral  Sermon,  A,  305. 
Funeral  Sermon,    Hearing  your, 

281. 

Gathering  Flowers  to  Compose  in 
the  Hour  of  Death,  4. 

Gift  which  Blindeth  the  Wise,  A, 
22. 


Give  all  you  Can,  12. 

Give  before  I  can  Pray,  I  Must, 

318. 
Giving  a  Tenth  to  the  Lord,  169. 
Gladsome  Mind,  Let  us  with  a, 

160. 
Glory,   Delusiveness  of  Earthly, 

72. 
Go  on,  Go  on,  296. 
God,  A  Personal,  296 
God,  and  a  Little  God,  A  Great, 

260. 
God  does  not  Forget  His  Saints, 

102. 
God,  Early  and  Late  with,  225. 
God,  Exalting,  232. 
God  Fulfilling  His  Threatenings, 

276. 
God  Here  ?  Is,  231. 
God  ?  Is  there  no,  87. 
God  Makes  no  Mistakes,  10. 
God  Seen  in  His  Works,  89. 
God  the  Father  Almighty,  132. 
God,  The  Handwriting  of,  268. 
God, The  Power  and  Comfort  of,  i. 
God  Unwilling  to  Afflict,  275. 
God  ?  Where  is  your,  304. 
God's  Anger  Consistent  with  His 

Love,  %-^. 
God's  Constant  and  Personal  Su- 
pervision of  His  People,  265. 
God's  Hands,  In,  162, 
God's  Infinity,  240. 
God's    Mercies   to  the  Worst  of 

Repenting  Sinners,  71. 
God's  Power  to  Save,  261. 
God's  Praise,  310. 
God's    Readiness  to    Hear    and 

Answer  Prayer,  103. 
God's  Searching,  235. 
Going  where  All  Problems  will  be 

Solved,  74. 
Good  Man  of  the  Olden  Time,  A, 

164. 
Good,  The  Luxury  of  Doing,  319. 
Good  Turned  to  Evil,  37. 
Grace  should   Permeate  the  En- 
tire Man,  141. 
Grace,  The  Pithiest,  71. 
Grasp,  The  Fatal,  173. 
Grave,  The,  223. 


324 


INDEX. 


Greedy  of  Gnin,  i86. 

Groaning  but  not  Grumbling,  2S2. 

Growth,  300. 

Hand,  The  Helping,  200. 
Hands,  In  God's,  162. 
Happiness  of  doing  Good,  91. 
Hasty  Temper,  A,  211. 
Haus-Segen,  The,  39. 
Hearing,  not  Reading,  258. 
Heart  of  Unbelief,  The  Evil,  279. 
Heathen  Convert  and  his  Bible, 

A,  149. 
Heathen  Honesty,  61. 
Heathen,  The  Conversion  of  the, 

61. 
Heathen's    Reply   to   the  Jesuit, 

A,  19. 
Heaven,  A  Message  from,  95. 
Heaven  be  ?  Wliat  must,  267. 
Heaven,  The  Arithmetic  of,  38. 
Heavenwards,  134. 
Hell  peoples  Heaven,  The  Fear 

of,  236. 
Henry,  Pliilip,  156. 
Hidden  and  Safe,  133. 
Highway,   The    Forest- Guarded, 

280. 
Home,  Nearly,  223. 
Home,  Sweet  Home,  151. 
Homesick  Mount,  The,  16. 
Honesty  of  the  Huguenots,  28. 
Honour,  Worldly,  210. 
Hopelulness,  Duty  of,  ill. 
Horse,  The  Pale,  144. 
Hour,  Our  Last,  233. 
Huguenots,    The    Persecution   of 

the,  17. 
Human  Thought  and    Heavenly 

Light,  2S8. 
Humility,  66. 

Huntsman,  The  Wild,  172. 
Hymn,  A,  109. 

Hymn,  Charlotte  Elliot's,  2S3. 
Hymn,  Dr.  Kyland  and  his,  "jZ. 
Hymn,  The  Power  of  a,  217. 

ril  not  Submit  to  It,  313. 
Impatience,  183. 

Inhdel    and     a    Little    Girl    who 
was  Sorry  for  Him,  An,  85. 


Infidel  and  the  Missionary,  The, 

248. 
Innovation,  An,  290. 
Intellect  and  the  Heart,  The,  49. 
Intercessor,  The  Weeping,  268. 
Israel,  Restoration  of,  273. 


Japanese  Convert,  A,  150. 

Jesus,  Like,  125. 

Jesus  Opposers,  281. 

Jesus.-"    What    shall  we  Give  to, 

249. 
Journey  is  too    Great  for  Thee, 

The,  57. 


Kind  Tone  of  Voice,  A,  190, 
Kindness  to  Animals,  181, 
Knowledge,  Jargon  without,  235. 
Knowledge  of  the  Bible,  Daniel 
Webstei-'s,  84. 


Labour  and  Sorrow,  209. 

Lambs  in  His  Arms,  The,  239. 

Lament,  A  Father's,  53. 

Language,  One,  8. 

Last  Hour,  The,  229. 

Last  Hours  of  Darnley,  The,  1 18. 

Legend  of  St.  Marguerite,  The, 
225. 

Leprosy,  26. 

Lessons  for  Children,  Three,  166. 

Liberality,  Duty  of,  40. 

Liberty  to  the  Cnptivesof  Sin,250. 

Life,  A  Successful,  176. 

Life,  Critical  Times  in,  300. 

Life,  Some  to  Everlasting,  294. 

Life,  The  Close  of,  259. 

Light,  228. 

Light,  Gone  into  the  World  of, 
264. 

Light  in  the  World,  262, 

Lips,  Watching  the,  162. 

Living  in  the  Lives  of  Others, 
229. 

Loan  to  the  Lord,  A,  193. 

Lord's  Prayer  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, The,  123. 

Loving  God,  38. 

Loyalty,  238. 


INDEX. 


325 


Magnanimity,  9. 

Martyr,  A  Boy,  3r. 

Martyr,  An  Old,  290. 

Martyr  at  the  Stake,  A,  58. 

Martyr  for  Christ,  A,  140. 

Martyr  of  the  Netherlands,  A,  96, 

Martyr's  Legacy  to  his  Children, 
A,  89. 

Martyrs,  The  Wigtown,  93 

Meditation,  107. 

Melancholy  Man,  A,  311. 

Melancholy,  Resistance  to,  219. 

Memory,  Lapse  of,  95. 

Merchant  Prince,  A,  87. 

Mercies,  Daily  Insensibility  to, 
276. 

Migrate,  About  to,  147. 

Minds  like  Sieves,  301. 

Minister,  A  French,  60. 

Missionary,  A  Moravian,  43. 

Missionary  of  the  Seventh  Cen- 
tury, A,  120. 

Money,  Accumulation  of,  105. 

More  Light,  Lord,  68. 

Morning  Song  of  the  Christian 
Church.  The,  122. 

Moses'  Argument,  25. 

Mother,  Value  of  a  Christian,  206. 
^    (    A,  12 

Motto,  A  fiishop's,  228 

Music,  The  Soothing  Power  of, 
50. 

My  Ministry,  2. 

Name,  The  Sweetest,  54. 
Neptune's  Cup,  136. 
Nero,  270. 

Newton  and  Jay,  253. 
Ninety-and-Nine,  The,  275. 
No  Fear,  No  Hope,  52. 
Noah's  Prayer,  7. 
Noise,  A  Mighty,  282, 

Ochre  Spring,  The,  174. 
Offering,  A  Small,  179. 
Old  Age,  141. 

Parable,  An  Old  Hebrew,  117, 
Parents,  A  Question  for,  39. 
Parents,  Ingratitude  to,  206. 


Parents,  One    who  Delighted  to 

Honour  his,  200. 
Passover,  The,  19. 
Pastor,  A  vShepherd,  316. 
Patriot,  A,  143. 
Peace  on  Earth,  306. 
Peacemaker,  A,  151. 
People,  God's  Care  of  His,  295. 
Persecution,  148. 
Persecution,  Days  of  Proscription 

and,  319. 
Perseverance,  213. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  The,  138. 
Pilot  is  on  Board,  The  Great,  17 
Pious  Son,  A,  176. 
Playing  Cards,  57. 
Pliny's  Myrtle  and  Christ's  Cross, 

273- 
Pockets,  Look  to  Your,  20. 
Praising  God,  103. 
Pray,  Never  be  too  Tired  to,  131. 
Prayer,  A  Man  of,  49. 
Prayer,  God's  Readiness  to  Hear 

and  Answer,  103. 
Prayer,  Importunate,  75. 
Prayer,  The    Difficult    Duty  of, 

315- 

Prayer,  The  Habit  of,  51. 

Prayer,  The  Patience  of  Un- 
answered, 65. 

Prayer,  Touching  God  in,  293.    '^ 

Prayer  Used  of  God,  Early,  312 

Prayer,  Washington  at,  68. 

Prayers  set  Aside  with  Physic 
Bottles,  297. 

Praying  and  VVorking,  62. 

Praying  First,  15. 

Praying  for  What  we  Do  not  Ex- 
pect, 81. 

Praying  Light-Keeper,  The,  241 

Preacher,  An  Eloquent,  209. 

Preaching  and  Praying,  186. 

Preaching,  Christmas  Evans  on, 
277. 

Prophecy  Fulfilled,  A,  135. 

Protection  from  Evil,  11. 

Providence,  Interposition  of,  153. 

Psalm,  A  Patriotic,  160. 

Psalm,  A  Pauline,  116. 

Psalm  Beloved  by  Luther,  A,  157, 

Psalm,  Durie's,  152. 


326 


INDEX. 


Psalm,  My,  124. 

Psalm  of  Catherine  de  Medici, 
A  Chosen,  157. 

Psalm  of  St.  Augustine,  The 
Favourite,  99. 

Psalm,  The  119th,  146. 

Psahns,  A  Lover  of  the,  142. 

Public  Worship,  Trivial  Hin- 
drances keeping  back  from, 

31- 
Pulpit  Beggar,  A,  165. 
Pulpit  Rcllectors,  147. 
Purity  of  Character,  174. 

Quaker  Tailor,  A,  276. 
Quenching  the  Spirit,  5. 

Rahab,  43. 

Railway  Carriage,  A  Word  in  a, 

185. 
Ready  to  Go,  35. 
Rebuke,  A  Seasonable,  272. 
Rebuking  a  King,  199. 
Refreshing,  A  Word  of,  126. 
Religion,    A     Stepping-stone    to 

Worldly  Success,  128. 
Religion  a  Thing  for  Every  Day, 

293- 
Religious  Work,  Impure  Motives 

in,  49. 
Remember  Thee,  I  will,  234, 
Resignation,  74. 
Resignation  to  God's  Will,  73. 
Resignation    to    God's   Will,    A 

Noble,  48. 
Results  are  in  God's  Hands,  34. 
Retribution,  224. 
Riches,   The  Best   Way  to   get, 

64. 
River,  Beyond  the,  237. 
Rivers,  Two,  300. 
Root,  The,  286. 
Root,  The  Worm  at  the,  215. 
Rooted,  Not  till  they  are,  245. 
Ruler,  Don't  use  a  Crooked,  146. 
Running  from  Sin,  171. 

Sabbath  Desecration,  24. 
Sabbath  Holy,  Keeping  the,  261. 
Sabbath,  Honouring  the,  302. 


Sabbath  Keeping,  An  Arctic  Ex- 
plorer and,  260. 
Sabbath  School  Instruction,  195. 
Sabbath,  The  Profanation  of  the, 

21. 
Sacred  Silence,  64. 
Saint,  An  Early,  100. 
Saint,  A  Mediaeval,  124. 
Saints,  God  does  not  Forget  His, 

102. 
Sanctify  My  Name,  236. 
Sanctuary,  Reverencing  the,  31. 
Sanctuary,  The  Lord  a,  134. 
Satan's  Master  Argument,  312. 
Saved    by  a    Newspaper   Scrap, 

216. 
Saviour,  Need  of  a,  245. 
Scaffold,  A  Servant  Girl  at  the, 

129. 
Scottish  Reformation,  A  Favourite 

Song  of  the,  156. 
Scripture  Texts,  39. 
Scriptures,  The  Fulness  of  the, 

148. 
Security?    Can    you    Trust   the, 

193- 
Seed- Corn,  59. 
Seeking   Peace  for    Ten    Years, 

310. 
Seeking  the  Lord  earnestly,  65. 
Sermon,  An  Extempore,  98. 
Service   Must  Have   Soul   in   it, 

True,  9. 
Ships   and  the    Great    Sea,  The 

Little,  145. 
Sick  Rooms,  in. 
Sick,  Suggestions  to  the,  292. 
Silence,  136. 
Sin  against  God,  120. 
Sin  Blotted  Out,  244. 
Sin,  Conspicuous  for  Exceeding, 

220, 
Sin  Crouching  at  the  Door,  1. 
Sin  Ready  to  Enter,  i. 
Sin,  Running  from,  171. 
Sin,  The  Certain  Detection  of,  36. 
Sin,  The  Corruption  of,  267. 
Sinning  against  Light,  243. 
Sins,  A  Choice  of  Three,  298. 
Sins,  Not  slavishly  Afraid  of  his. 

19. 


INDEX. 


327 


Slothful  Habits,  192. 

Slow  to  Wrath,  182. 

Social  Intercourse,  67. 

Soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  A,  44. 

Solid  Happiness,  35. 

Son,  A  Pious,  176. 

Song  of  Battles,  The,  123. 

Song  of  Christian  Assemblies,  A, 

159. 
Song,  1  he  Evening,  162. 
Song,  The  Lord's,  i6i. 
Sorrow,  Blessing  the  Lord  in  the 

Depth  of,  140. 
Soul  Murder,  59. 
Soul,  The  Worth  and  Beauty  of 

a,  112. 
Souls,  How  to  Win,  180. 
Speaking  Leaves,  90. 
Spring,  Tiie  Ochre,  174. 
Stand  Still,  56. 
Storm  at  Sea,  A,  274. 
Stranger  within  thy  Gates,  The, 

.37- 
Subject      neither      Studied      nor 

Understood,  A,  270. 
Subjection  of  the  Will,  109. 
Success,     The     Secret     of    a 

Preacher's,  no. 
Successful  Life,  A,  176. 
Suffering,  Made  Perfect  through, 

127. 
Sun-dials,  63. 
Surety,  A,  149. 

Surveillance,  Unconscious,  10. 
Swear  ?  Who  taught  you  to,  20. 
Swearing,  20. 

Talent  without  Sanctity,  23. 
Talents,     Notwithstanding     his, 

126. 
Te  Deum  of  the  Old  Testament, 

The,  164. 
Teachers  and  Parents,  For,  200. 
Teaching,     Practical     Christian, 

303- 
Telegram  in  America,  The  First, 

36. 
Tempest,    The    Covert  from  the, 

236. 
Temptations,  Boys',  172. 
Tenth  of  All,  A,  13. 


Text,  A  Law,  304. 

Thanksgiving,  A  Song  of,  94. 

Three  Links,  254. 

Time  Enough,  247. 

Timely  Succour,  145. 

Tomb  Forgets  No  One,  The,  76. 

Tombstone,  An  Inscription  of  a, 

264. 
Tongue,  The,  103. 
Tongues,  The  Confusion  of,  8. 
Transferring  of  Sins,  27. 
Tree  Giow  ?  When  does  a,  299. 
Tree,  The  Traveller's,  92. 
Tried  before  Trusted,  54. 
Tried,  It  has  been,  88. 
Trouble,  My,  52. 
Troubles,  15. 
True  Nobility,  63. 
Trust  Not  in  Vam,  203. 
Trust  the  Promises,  258. 
Truthfulness,  25. 

Undone,  2. 

Venture  on  Him,  41. 

Vigilance,  307. 

Voice,  A  Kind  Tone  of,  190. 

Waiting  upon  God,  177. 
Wanderings,  My,  119. 
Watching  the  Lips,  162. 
Ways  of  Death,  The,  190. 
What  Next?  114. 
W^heat  and  the  Chaff,  The,  79. 
Widow  and  the  Sovereign,  The, 

179- 
Widow's  Son,  The,  66. 
Wife,  A  Devoted,  208. 
Wife  is  from  the  Lord,  A  Good, 

Will,  Subjection  of  the,  109. 
Wine-Making,  The    Process    of, 

274. 
Wisdom,  True,  ']']. 
W'oman,  A  Poor  Highland,  320. 
Women,    One    of   the    Virtuous, 

208. 
Word  in  a  Railway  Carriage,  A, 

185. 
Word  in  Season,  A,  185. 


328 


INDEX, 


Word  of  God,  Growing  Love  for 

the,  67. 
Work  of  God,  Helpin;^  on  the,  13. 
Work  of  God,  The  Noblest,  21. 
Worth  and  Beauty  of  a  Soul,  The, 

112. 


Wrath,  Slow  to,  182. 

Young  Man  Void  of  Understand- 
ing, A,  175. 

Young,  Moral  Training  of  the, 
41. 


INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


Gei 

TESIS. 

PAGE 

f.  1     ... 

I 

iv,  7  ... 

1,2 

iv.  lo 

2 

V.  24  ...     . 

2,3,4 

vi.  3  ••• 
»   5  - 
vii.  16 

5 

6 

6 

viii.  9 

7 

»    20 
ix.  13 
xi.  I    ... 

8 

8 

8 

„  9  - 

8 

xii.  5  ... 

9 

xiii.  9 

9 

xvi.  13 

10 

xviii.  25 

10 

xix.  26 

11 

xxii.  14 

12 

XXV.  34 

12 

xxviii.  17 

12 

12,13 

xxxix.  2 

13 

xli.  9  ... 

15 

,.    52 

15 

xlv.  3... 

16 

xlvii.  9 

16 

,.29 

17 

xlviii.  21 

17 

Ex 

ODUS. 

ii.  23  ... 
viii.  26 

17 

18 

xii.  13 

19 

xiv.  15 

19 

x\.  2  ... 

19 

v4    ... 

i9| 

»7     ••• 

20,  2l| 

PACE 

PACK 

XX.  8 

21 

xi.  18 

.      39 

„  12 

21 

XV.  7 

.     40 

»  13 

21 

„    II         

.     41 

xxi.  17 

22 

xxiv.  24     

.       37 

xxiii.  8 

22 

xxxii.  46    

.      41 

XXV.  9 

22 

xxxiii.  27 

.      41 

xxvii.  20    ... 

...         23 

xxxi  v.  8     

.       42 

xxix.  44     ... 

...         23 

xxxi.  13 

...         24 

Joshua. 

xxxii.  12    ... 

...         25 

i.  8 

.       42 
43 

xxxii.  24    ... 

...         25 

ii.  I    

xxxiii.  14  ... 

...         26 

xiii.  33       

.       43 

xxiv.  24      

.       44 

Leviti 

cus. 

xiv.  I,  2     ... 

...     26 

Judges. 

xvi.  21 

...     27 

V.  16 

•       45 

xviii.  4,  5  ... 

...     27 

xix.  36 

...    28 

Ruth. 

XXV.  35 

...    30 

ii.  12 

45 

xxvi.  2 

...    31 

I  Samuei 

NUMBI 

:rs. 

46,47 

iii.  4  

vi.  25,  26  ... 

...      31 

iii.  18 

.       48 

x.  29 

...      32 

XV.  II           

.      49 

xii.  3 

...      32 

»     22          

•       49 

xvii.  8 

...     32 

xvi.  7         

.       49 

xxi.  4 

...      34 

„    23         ..     .. 

.       50 

xxiii.  10     ... 

...      35 

xxii.  4        

.       51 

».    23     ... 

...      36 

.\xiv.  19     

51 

xx.xii.  23    ... 

...      36 

2    SAMUE] 

Deutero 

NOMY. 

iii- 33         

•       52 

V.  17 

-       37 

xii.  19        

.       52 

vi»4 

...       38 

„    23         

•       53 

„  5 

...       38 

xvin.  33     

•       53 

„  7 

...       39 

xxii.  3         

•       54 

>,  9 

—      39 

»     31       

•       54 

339 


330 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


I 

Kings. 

PAGE 

PAG  a 

'ACE 

i.  6     

..       73 

xxxvii.  31  ... 

...      106 

xiii.  8,  9 

S4 

„  21    

73>74 

xxxvi  ii.  4  ... 

...      106 

xiv.  \y 



55 

V.  9     

.       74 

„        I3-. 

...      106 

xvii.  6 

56 

vi.  8 

.       7S 

xxxix.  3     ... 

...      107 

„     i8 

5^5 

xiii.  15       ...     . 

'       75 

„       13   ... 

...      107 

xviii.  21 

57 

xiv.  14       ...     . 

.      76 

xl  3   

...      109 

xix.  7... 



57 

xvi.  22 

.       76 

„  8    

...      109 

xix.  14 

58 

xxviii.  28  ...     . 

.       77 

,.   10 

...     iio 

xxi.  25 

59 

xxxiv.  18   ...      . 

.       77 

xii.  3 

...    Ill 

XXXV.  10    ...     . 

.       78 

xliii.  S 

...    Ill 

2 

Kings. 

xxxix.  27    ...     . 

.       78 

xiv.  5 

...       112 

ii.  3    ••• 

59 

xlix.  8 

...       113 

»  II  •■• 

60 

Psalms. 

»     17      ... 
1.  10 

...       114 

iv-  34 



60 

...       115 

vi.  15... 
vii.  19 
xii.  15 
XX.  5  ... 
„  II 

61 

i-4    

.       79 

Ii.  1-19      ... 

...       116 

61 

iv.  6 

.       80 

„  13 

...       117 

61 

V-  3 

81 

„  17 

...       117 

62 

r  12 

82 

Iv.  4 

...       118 

63 

vii.  II         ...     . 
viii.  I 

.      84 

Ivi.  8 

Ivii.  4 

...  119 
...       120 

I  Chronicles 

»     2 

.       85 

Ix.  1-12     ... 

...       120 

X 

86 

Ixiii.  i-ii  ... 

...      122 

vi.  49... 

63 

xiv.  I 

.      87 

Ixvii.  1-7  ... 

...      123 

xvii.  16 

64 

XV.  4 

.       87 

Ixviii.  1-35 

...      123 

2  Chronicles 

xvi.  5         

.       Z2, 

Ixix.  I 

...      124 

xviii.  30     

88 

Ixxi.  1-24  ... 

...      124 

i.  10  ... 

64 

xix.  I 

.       89 

Ixxii.  4 

...      125 

vi.  40... 

65 

„     10       ... 

89,90 

Ixxiii.  I 

...      126 

XV.  15 

65 

,,     II        

•       91 

„      22    ... 

...      126 

XX  21 

66 

»  .  13       

.       92 

Ixxiv.  10    ... 

...       127 

xxxiv.  27 

66 

xxiii.  5       

.       92 

„      16    ... 

...       127 

xxiv.  7       

•       93 

„    .20    ... 

...      128 

Ezra. 

XXV.  7         

•       93 

Ixxxiii.  3    ... 

...      128 

vi.  22... 

...     ••. 

67 

xxvi.  8       

.      94 

Ixxxiv.  4-12 

...      129 

vii.  6  ... 



67 

xxvii.  I-14 

.      94 

Ixxxvi.  7    ... 

...       130 

ix.  8  ... 

68 

xxvii.  6      

.      95 

„   ...13  ... 

...      130 

XXX.  5         

•       95 

Ixxxviii.  9  ... 

...      131 

Nehemiah. 

XXX.  5         

.      96 

Ixxxix.  26  ... 

...      132 

i.  6     ... 
iv.  9    ... 
viii.  8... 

68 
69 
70 

xxxi.  5       

.      97 

XC.  12 

...       132 

xxxi  23     

xxxii.  i-ll 
xxxiv.  9     

.      98 
.      99 
.     100 

.xci.  I 
„    2 
„    IS 

...      133 

...  134 
...      134 

ix.  17... 

71 

„      10 

.     102 

xciv.  2 

...      135 

xii.  31 

71 

»      13    

.     103 

„     17     ... 

...      136 

Esther. 

»      15    

.     103 

xcv.  5 

...      136 

xxxv.  28     

.     103 

»    7,8    ... 

...      137 

V.  13  ... 



72 

xxxvi.  I      

.     1,04 

c.  1     

...      138 

„      6     

.     104 

cii.  20 

...       140 

Job, 

xxxvii.  16 

.     los 

ciii.  I 

140,  141 

i.  I     ... 



72 

»       26 

.     105  1 

»    5 

...      141 

INDEX   OF   TEXTS. 


331 


PACE 

PACK 

ECCLESIASTES 

CIV.  34       

142 

iv.  14 



169 

PACK 

cv.  26        

143 

„    15 



171 

i.  2       ...      . 

..    209, 

210 

cvii.  I        

143 

„    18 



171 

,,.14    •..      . 



210 

„     18      

144 

V    27 

172 

vii.  9  ...      . 



211 

»     23      

145 

V.  22  ... 



172 

viii.  12 

212 

»     43      

145 

vi.  15 



173 

ix.  4   ...     . 



213 

cxix 

146 

.,  27,  28 



174 

„  10 

..     213, 

214 

»     9       

146 

vii.  I  ... 



174 

,.  18         . 

215 

»     II      

146 

,,   7  ••• 



175 

xi.  I   ...     . 

..    216, 

217 

„     46      

147 

viii.  17 

176 

„6    ...     . 



218 

»     54     

147 

X.  7     ... 



176 

„7    ...     . 



219 

»     59     

147 

„  4    ••• 



177 

„9    ...    219,220, 

222 

,,     83     

148 

xi.  18 



177 

xii.  3...     . 



223 

,,    86     

148 

„   19 



178 

„  5...     . 



223 

„    97     ...    148, 

149 

„  24 

...     179, 

I  So 

„    14       . 



224 

»     122    

149 

,,.30 



180 

»     130   

150 

xii.  30 

181 

Song  of 

Solomon. 

cxx.  7        

15' 

xiii.  I 

182 

cxxii.  2      

151 

xiv.  29 

'.'..     18-, 

183 

ii.  15...     . 

225 

cxxiv.  1-8 

153 

154 

XV.  i.  ... 

183 

iii.  2   ...     . 
iv.  16 
V.  9    ...     . 
vi.  lo...     . 

225 

»      2     

»      4     

cxxv.  1-5 

»    3  -. 
•,,    23 
„   27 

■.".■     i"85, 

183 
186 
186 

225 
227 
228 

cxxvi.  5     

156 

»    29 

186 

cxxviii 

156 

,.Zl 

•••         ... 

187 

Isaiah. 

»       2 

156 

xvi.  7 

...     i87, 

188 

i.  25  ...    , 



228 

cxxx 

157 

„    24 



190 

ii.  II  ... 

229 

cxxxiii 

159 

„    25 



190 

vi.  8  ... 



229 

cxxxvi 

160 

»    32 



190 

viii.  20 



230 

cxxxvii 

160 

xix.  4 



191 

xi.  6   ... 

..    ... 

231 

3,4     ... 

161 

.,    15 



192 

XXV.    I 



232 

4 

161 

»    17 

...     193, 

194 

„     8 



232 

cxxxix.  12 

162 

XX.    II 



194 

xxvi.  3 

.,    ... 

233 

cxli 

162 

„    22 

194 

»     8 

..    ... 

234 

»..3        

162 

xxii.  6 

195,  196 

197, 

xxviii.  7 



234 

cxliii.          

163 

198 

„       10 



235 

cxliv.          

163 

"...  " 



199 

xxix.  13 

..    ... 

235 

cxlv 

164 

xxiii.  21 

199 

„     23 



236 

„     13      

164 

»     24, 

25      ... 

200 

XXX.  33 



236 

cxivi 

164 

„     26 



2CX3 

xxxii.  2 



236 

cxlviii.  8    

165 

xxiv.  10 



200 

xxxiii.  17 



237 

„       17 

165 

:,        II 



200 

„      22 

...   237 

238 

XXV.   II 



201 

xl.  II... 



239 

Proverbs. 

xxvi.  5 



202 

„  26 
xlii.  3 



240 

xxvii.  9 



202 



241 

i.  8    

166 

xxviii.  25 



203 

„    10 



241 

,,27 

166 

XXX.  8,  9 



205 

xliii.  2 

..    242 

243 

ii.  8    

167 

„     17 

206 

„    8 

243 

,,20 

1 68 

xxxi.  I 



206 

1  xliv.  3 



244 

iii.  9  ...     

169 

»      II, 

12 

208 

1     »    22 



244 

332 


INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


PAGE 

xlv.  21,  22... 

...         245 

xlviii.  ID   ... 

245,    246 

„      i8    ... 

...         247 

„       22    ... 

...        248 

xlix.  i6 

...         249 

„     24       ... 

...         250 

1.4     

...        252 

lii-  7  

...         253 

n   lo 

...        253 

liii.  I  

...        254 

„    6 

...        255 

hv.  2,  3     ... 

...         255 

»  5 

...         256 

„  II 

...        256 

»  13 

...        257 

Iv.  3   

...        258 

V  12 

...         259 

Ivii.  15 

259,    260 

Iviii.  13     ... 

2tO,  261 

lix.  I 

...       261 

Ix.  I    

...       262 

„   2 

...       262 

»   19 

...       264 

„  20 

...       264 

Ixi.  I 

...      264 

„    10 

...       265 

Ixiii.  13      ... 

...       265 

Ixv.  17 

...      267 

Jeremiah. 

vi.  14 

...       267 

X.   I    

...       267 

X.   12 

...       268 

xii.  5 

...       268 

xiii.  17 

...       268 

XV.  15 

...      269 

„    16,  17  ... 

...       270 

xvii.  9 

...       270 

xxiii.  4 

...       270 

XX vi.  3 

...      272 

xxix.  13     ... 

...      273 

XXX.  17 

...       273 

xxxii.  37    .. 

...      273 

xlviii.  II    ... 

...      274 

xlix.  23 

...      274 

1.  6 

...      275 

Lamentations. 


"1.  33 


275 
276 
276 


EZEKIEL. 


'.3   

276 

iii.  17         

277 

xi.  19         ...     278, 

279 

xviii.  4       

280 

xxii.  29      

281 

xxiv.  17     

281 

xxvi.  13     

282 

XXX.  24      

282 

xxxiii.  22 

283 

»     32    

283 

xxxiv.  12 

2S4 

».    29 

2S6 

XXX vi.  27 

287 

Daniel. 

ii.  22 

288 

iii.  17         

289 

,,  25         

289 

»  21         

290 

„  22        

290 

'V.  35         

292 

vi.  10         

293 

»  20         

293 

xii.  2 294 

.295 

HOSEA. 

ii.  18 

295 

V.  15 

296 

vi.  3 

296 

V  4 

297 

xiii.  2         

298 

xiii.  14       

298 

xiv.  5 

299 

„    6 

300 

Joel. 

iii.  12,  13 

301 

»  14 

300 

Amos. 

PAGE 

iii.  3 300 

viii.  5         302 

Jonah. 
ii.  2    303 

Micah. 

V.  2    303 

vi.  8 303,  304 

vii.  8-10    304 

Nahum. 

i.  3     305 

„  15 306 

Habakkuk. 

ii.  I    307 

»4    308 

,,15 308 

iii.  3 309 

Zephaniah. 

ii.  3    309 

iii.  16         311 


Zechariah. 


11. 
iii. 

4    ... 
I   ... 

.  11 
iv. 
vii 

2  ... 

7  .- 
.  II,  12 

viii.  21 

X. 

12 

XI. 

xii 

4  ..• 
.  10 

Ma] 

iii. 
)> 

5> 

)> 

iv. 

3  ... 
5   ... 
10 ... 
16... 
2  ... 

311 
312 

312 
313 
313 

3'5 
315 
316 
316 


...  317 
...  318 
318,319 
...  319 
...     320 


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300  OUTLINES  OF  SERMONS  ON  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

By  73  Eminent 

Archbishop  Tait. 
Bishop  Alexander. 
Bishop  Browne. 
Bishop  Lightfoot. 
Bishop  Magee. 
Bishop  Ryle. 
Dean  Church, 
Dean  Vaughan. 
Canon  Farrar. 
Canon  Knox-Little. 


English  and  A:.!ERIcan  Clergymen,  including 


Canon  Liddon. 
Canon  Westcott. 
Rev.  Prin.  Cairns. 
Rev.  Dr.  M.  PuNSHON 
Rev.  Dr.W.  M.Taylor. 


I  Rev.  Dr.  H.  Crosby. 

JRev.  Dr.  Pres.McCosH. 
j  Rev.  Dr.  M .  R.  Vincent. 
I  Rev.  Dr.  Jno.  Peddie, 
iRev.  Dr.  C.  T.  Deems. 


Rev.  Phillips  Brooks.  iRev.  C.  H.  Spurgeon. 
Rev.  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs.  IRev.  Dean  Stanley, 
Rev.  Dr.W.G.T.SHEDD.  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Raleigh. 


Rev.  Dr.  T.  L.  CuYLEU. 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  T.  DuRYEA. 


Attd  matry  others. 


OUTLINES  OF  SERMONS  ON  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 


G.  S.  Barrett,  B,A. 
Dean  E.  Bickersteth. 
Bishop  E.  H.  Browne. 
J.  Bald.  Brown.  B.A. 
T.P.  Boultbee,  LL.D. 
J.  P.  Chown. 
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E,  R,  Couder,  D.D, 
T.  L.  CUYLER.  D.D. 
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Robert  Rainy,  D.D. 
Alex'r  Raleigh,  D.D. 
C.  P.  Reichel,  D.D. 
Chas.  Stanford,  D.D. 
Dean  A.  P.  Stanley. 
W,  M.  Stratham.B.A. 


authors  of  sermons. 
J.Oswald  Dykes.D.D. 
E,  Herber  Evans. 
Canon  F.W.  Farrar. 
Donald  Eraser,  D.D. 
J.G.Greenhough.BA. 
W.  F.  Hook,  D.D. 
Bishop  W.Basil  Jones. 
John  Kerr,  D.D. 
Canon  Edward  King. 
Bp.  J.  B.  Lightfoot. 
Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.D. 
S.  A.  Tipple,  B.A. 
H,  J.  Vandyke,  D.D. 
Dean  C.  J.  Vaughan. 
James  Vaughan,  B.A. 


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J.A.Macfayden,D.D. 
Alex.  M  aclaren,  D.  D. 
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JohnPulsford.  [D.D- 
W.  Mokley  PunshoN; 
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W.  J.Woods,  B.A. 
C.  Wadsworth,  D.D 
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strikingly  practical,  and  teach  us  not  only  the  general  rule,  but  the  mode 
of  applying  it  to  solve  particular  cases.  .         .         .         Mr.  Hallam's 

work  is  eminently  judicial.  Its  whole  spirit  is  that  of  the  Bench,  not 
that  of  the  Bar.  He  sums  up  with  a  calm,  steady  impartiality,  turning 
neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  glossing  over  nothing,  exaggerating 
nothing,  while  th:  advocates  on  both  sides  are  alternately  biting  their  lips 
to  hear  their  conflicting  misstatements  and  sophism  exposed." 


This  "STANDARD  EDITION"  of  HALLAM'S  WORKS, 
in  6  Vols.,  AVERAGES  NEARLY  800  PAGES  IN  EACH 
VOL.,  and  is  sold  at  $7.50  PER  SET  (formerly  published 
in   10  Vols,  at  $17.50.) 

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REV.    DR.    WM.    M.   TAYLOR'S   WORKS. 

Contrary  Winds  and  Other  Sermons. 

Crown  8vo  Volume,  Cloth.    $1.75.    3d  Edition. 

"  This  work  touches  on  numerous  phases  of  life  and  thought  and 
experience,  sliowing  that  the  author  has  lived  through  a  vast  deal  and 
has  been  made  the  richer  and  stronger  by  it.  It  leaves  the  impression 
of  wisdom  that  comes  from  actual  experience,  dealing  with  life  rather 
than  speculations,  and  so  comes  home  to  the  heart  and  conscience.     It 

SHOWS   A   WIDE    RANGE   OF    READING    AND    CLOSE    GRAPPLE   WITH    THE 

DIFFICULT  PROBLEMS  OF  OUR  TIME.  5uch  preaching  is  tonic  and  in- 
vigorating. It  strengthens  the  heart  and  fortifies  the  will  to  overcome 
trials  and  conquer  temptations  and  achieve  victory." — JV.  Y.  Christian 
al   Work. 

The  Congregationalisi  s,3.y?,:  "  Its  variety  of  theme  and  the  never- 
failing  intellectual  power  which  it  illustrates,  the  author's  reverent  posi- 
tiveness  of  faith,  his  broad  and  intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  the  richness  of  his  personal  spiritual  experiences — never  obtruded 
but  always  underlying  his  words — render  it  a  volume  of  rare  and  precious 
value  to  the  Christian  believer,  and  A  capital  specimen  of  manly, 
BUSINESS-LIKE     DISCUSSION     TO     ALL     OTHERS     WHO     CARE     TO     READ 

WHAT  A  Christian  has  to  say  for  his  religion." 

N.  Y.  Churchman:  "Sermons  practical  in  their  nature,  full  of 
deep  thought  and  wise  counsel.  They  will  have  as  they  deserve  a  wide 
circulaticm. 


Now  Ready— 4th  Edition  of 

THE    LIMITATIONS   OF   LIFE 

AND   OTHER    SERMONS. 

By  ^VM.    M.  TAYLOR,    D.D. 

With  a  Fine  Portrait  on  Steel  by  Ritchie.     Crown  8vo 
Vol.,  Extra  Cloth,  $1.75. 

"  In  variety  of  theme,  in  clearness  and  penetration  of  vision,  in 
distinctness  of  aim,  in  intensity  of  purpose,  in  energy  and  well-directed 
efibrt,  etc.,  this  volume  is  perhaps  without  its  equal  in  the  language." 

—  The  Scotsman. 

Providence  Journal :  "  The  directness,  earnestness,  descriptive  and 
illustrative  power  of  the  preacher,  and  his  rjre  gift  for  touching  the  con- 
science and  the  heart,  are  fully  exemplified  in  these  eloquent  discourses." 

JV.  Y.  Evangelist:  "  They  have  the  noble  simplicity  and  clearness 
of  the  truth  itself,  and  which,  fixing  the  attention  of  the  reader  from  the 
beginning,  holds  it  to  the  end.  It  is  impossible  to  read  them  without 
the  constant  sense  of  the  personality  of  the  author." 


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CHOICE   POPULAR   BIOGRAPHIES. 

HEROES  OF  CHRISTIAN  HISTORY. 

A  SERIES  OF  POPULAR  BIOGRaPHIES 

r,Y 

Eminent  English  and  American  Authors. 


i2mo  Vols.,  bound  in  cloth.     Price,  75c.  each. 

A  series  of  biographies  of  men  eminent  in  religious  history,  by 
writers  of  recognized  ability.  Popular  in  style,  trustworthy,  and  com- 
prehensive,  and  dealing  with  the  most  interesting  characters  and  events 
in  the  story  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  series  condenses,  in  enter, 
taining  form,  the  essential  facts  of  the  great  body  of  religious  literature, 
and  will  have  special  value  for  the  large  class  anxious  for  information 
touching  these  great  men,  but  unable,  by  reason  of  limited  leisure  or 
means,  to  read  more  elaborate  works. 


A^OIF  RFADY. 
WILLIAM  WILBERFORCE.     By  Rev.  Jno.  Stoughtoni,  D.D. 
HENRY  MARTYN.  -        -        By  Rev.  Chas.  D.  Bell,  D  D 

PHILLIP  DODDRIDGE.  -  By  Rev.  Chas.  Stanford.  D.D. 
WILLIAM  CAREY.  -        -  By  Rev.  Jas.  Culross,  D.D 

THOMAS  CHALMERS.  -  By  Rev.  Donald  Fraser,  D.D. 
ROBERT  HALL.  -  -  -  -  By  Rev.  E.  Paxton  Hood. 
RICHARD  BAXTER.  -  -  -  By  Rev.  G.  D.  Boyle. 
FLETCHER  OF  MADELEY.       By  Frederic  W,  Macdonald. 


"  This  series  of  books  will  be  widely  popular.  It  consists  of  com 
pact,  popular  biographies  of  men  eminent  in  religious  history,  prepared 
by  English  and  American  authors  of  repute.  They  are  similar  in  size 
to  the  English  Men  of  Letters  Series,  trustworthy  and  sufficiently  com 
prehensive,  while  yet  brief  enough  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  a  large 
number  cf  readers  who  earnestly  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
lives  and  work  of  eminent  Christian  heroes." — A'.  Y.  Evening  Post, 


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CHOICE    STANDARD    WORKS. 

'  A   NEW   EDITION  ^ 

OF 

D'lSRAELI'S  COMPLETE  WORKS. 

Edited  by  his  Son,  LORD  BEAGONSFIELD, 

With  a  f.ne  Portrait  at  Steel.    6  Vols. ,  Crown  8vo,  Cloth. 


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(Doiutd  in  Half  Calf  extra,  $ 3  per  vol.) 


This  New  Edition  of  D'Israeli's  Works  Comprises 

THE   CURIOSITIES    OF    LITERATURE,  -  -  3  Vols. 

CALAMITIES  AND  QUARRELS  OF  AUTHORS  AND  MEMOIRS,  1  Vol. 

AMENITIES  OF  LITERATURE,  SKETCHES  AND  CHARACTERS,  1  Vol. 

LITERARY  CHARACTER,  HISTORY  OF  MEN  OF  GENIUS,    -  1  Vol. 

A  collection  of  literature  which  no  judiciously  selected  library  will 
fail  lo  have,  and  no  person  of  literary  taste  and  culture  willingly  do 
without. 

They  arc,  in  truth,  a  history  of  literattiro  and  of  literary  men, 
g-athorod  fron  the  Tzritinss  of  ccnturios  and  from  living  authors, 
philosophic  and  leamocl,  yet  easy  and  faGcinating. 

The  Curiosities  of  Literature  treat  of  everything  curious  in  the 

literary  kingdom.  The  formation  of  libraries,  past  and  present,  bibliomania,  the 
oddities  of  authors,  their  labors,  anecdotes,  successes,  failures,  etc.,  containing  a  valuable 
mass  of  rare  information. 

The  Amenities  of  Literature  "  is  in  a  different  strain,  and  treats  of 

Language,  the  origin  and  growth  of  our  own,  the  discovery  and  progress  of  the  art  of 
printing,  the  growth  of  literature,  its  patrons,  followers  and  builders,  and  of  other 
matters  which  have  a  broad  and  general  bearing  upon  the  subject  in  hand." 

The  Calamities  and  Quarrels  of  Authors  "  contains  an  account  of 

authors'  struggles,  difficulties  and  poverty  as  a  class  *  *  *  teaching  them  their  failings 
and  holding  up  the  mirror  for  those  who  may  be  benefited  by  a  view  of  the  diiSculties 

which  beset  authors." 

Literary  Character  "  is  probably  the  most  searching  and  distinctive 

treatise  of  its  kind  extant,  made  up,  as  it  is,  irom  the  feelings  and  confessions  of  men  of 
genius." 

This  NEW  IMPRESSION  of  the  famous  works  of  the  elder 
D'ISRAELI,  IN  6  VOLS.,  PRICE  $7.50  PER  SET  (formerly 
published  in  9  Vols,  at  $15.00),  has  been  aptly  said  to  com- 
prise the  cream  of  English  Literature  of  Europe  from  the  times 
of  Dr.  Johnson  to  our  own,  and  to  constitute  a  whole  library  in 
themselves. 


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STANDARD   RELIGIOUS   WORKS. 


New  and  Enlarged  [4thJ  Edition,  in  Cheaper  Form, 

CHARLES  L,  BRACE'S  GESTA  CHRIST!. 

A  HISTORY  OF  HUMANE  PROGRESS   UNDER  CHRIS- 
TIANITY.    With  New  Preface  and  Supplemen- 
tary Chapter.      540  pp.,  cloth. 
Price  reduced  from   S2.J0  to  ■Si-jo. 

"It  is  especially  adapted  to  assist  the  clergyman  and  religious  teacher  in  his  strug- 
gles with  honest,  thoughtful  infidelity." 

"  It  presents  a  storehouse  cf  facts  bearing  on  the  influences  of  Christianity  upon 
such  important  topics  as  the  paternal  power,  the  position  of  woman  under  custom  and 
law,  personal  purity,  and  marriage,  slavery,  cruel  and  licentious  sports,  and  all  matters 
of  humanity  and  compassion,  etc.     The  thoughtful  reader  will  here  gather  in- 

FOR.MATION  WHICH  COULD  O.MLV  UE  OBTAINED  FROM  LIBRAUIFS  OR  MANV  VOI  U.MFS." 

RfV.  Dr.  li.  S.  STOItliS  says:  ''IT  IS  A  BOOK  THAT 
DESERVES  THE  VERY  WIDEST  CIRCULATION  FOR  ITS  CAREFUL- 
NESS AND  CANDOR,  ITS  AMPLE  LEARNING,  its  just,  discrimina- 
ting analysis  of  historical  movements  as  initiated  or  governed  by 
moral  forces,  and  for  the  fine  spirit  which  pervades  it." 

"The  skill  and  industry  with  which  Mr.  Brace  has  gleaned  and  sorted  the  vast  ac- 
cumulation of  material  here  gathered  together,  the  better  to  show  forth  the  power  and 
influence,  direct  and  indirect,  of  Christ's  teachings,  is  not  only  praise-worthy,  but  even 
in  a  certain  sense  wonderful.  He  has  a  complete  mastery  of  his  subject,  and  many 
chapters  in  the  book  are  of  exceeding  value  and  interest." — London  Morning  Post. 

A  NEW  and  REVISED  EDITION,  with  NEW  MAPS  and  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

STANLEY'S  SINAl'AND  PALESTINE. 

In  Connection  with  their  History.     By  Dean  A.  P.  STANLEY. 

With   7   Elaborate   and   Beautifully   Colored 

Maps,  and  other  Illustrations. 

Large  Crown  8vo  Vol.,  Cloth,  640  pp.      Price  reduced  from  $4  to  $2.£0. 

The  late  Dean  Stanley  published  a  new  and  revised  edition  of  his 
•*  Sinai  and  Palestine."  In  it  he  made  considerable  editions  and  cor- 
rections, giving  the  work  the  final  impress  of  his  scholarship,  taste  and 
ability.  This  edition  has  been  cnrefuUy  conformed  to  the  last  English 
edition — including  the  new  maps  and  illustrations,  and  is  herewith  com- 
mended anew  AS  THE  MOST  READABLE  AS  WELL  AS  THE 
MOST  ACCURATE  WORK  ON  THE  SUBJECT  IN  THE  ENG- 
LISH LANGUAGE. 

Reri.Dr.  H.  M.  Field,  Editor  of  " N.  Y.  Evangelist,"  says  of  Stanley's  "Sinai 
and  Palestine"  :  "We  had  occasion  for  its  constant  use  in  crossing  the  desert,  and  in 
journeying  through  the  Holy  Land,  and  can  bear  witness  at  once  to  its  accuracy  and  to 
the  charm  of  its  descriptions.  Of  all  the  keif's  7ve  had  it  was  by  far  the  most  caf- 
tivating.''^ 

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